The Battle For Pete's World
by cheri1
Summary: 10Rose w Jack It's been twenty years since the Doctor and Rose were separated and Rose has been hardened by years of slavery and leading a resistance movement. She doesn't expect to see the Doctor again before he turns up and helps her again. FINISHED.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

_My name is Rose Tyler and I am a survivor. _

_Twenty years ago, I was separated from a remarkable man. A man, who grabbed my hand when I was a naïve girl of nineteen, took me away in his magical ship and showed me countless stars and planets. A man who showed me things I had only read about in history books. A man who became my whole universe, who became everything to me. Who I thought I couldn't live without._

_That was then and this is now._

_Now, I have no time to dwell on the life I might have had with that remarkable man. No time to imagine what might have happened if I held on to that lever a little longer. No time to dream of magical tear-filled reunions that only exist in romance books and fairy tales. I have no time to remember the travels I had with him, the laughter we shared, the chips we ate. I have no time to think of those things because only one thought dominates my mind now._

_Winning the war._

_It has been almost eleven years now since the Kajorans came. I had just been made head of Torchwood and was selected to welcome what we though was a peaceful race of aliens._

_How wrong we were._

_Oh, they had us fooled in the beginning, telling us that they only wanted peaceful relations with the Earth and in return would give us technology that would allow our civilization to advance. I had my doubts about their offer of friendship, after all I had been in space and had encountered many different alien races, some of which used the same sort of tactic to gain the trust of planets before conquering them. I was invited to an emergency meeting at the UN and I tried to tell them this, warn them that the Kajorans were not to be trusted, but I was shouted down by the ambassadors who wanted to welcome the aliens so they could get their greedy fingers on their technology._

_The fools._

_In the end, I was proven right. The abductions started slowly at first, very subtly. People just suddenly disappeared never to be seen again. One, maybe two, at first, not enough to draw attention. Oh, there were the rumors that the Kajorans were taking them and using them as forced labor in mines deep under the ground or as a food supply, but no one took them seriously. After all, the Kajorans were nice people, extremely helpful and eager to assist the scientists in any way they could. They had everyone fooled…except me. I knew something was up from the way they acted. Whenever they went on the telly to give some new announcement or other, I could see the forced smiles and the evil glint in their eyes. But when I tried to voice this to the ambassadors at the UN, they called me a reactionary and dismissed me as a hysterical female. I couldn't believe these people, some of whom I had worked with closely, would accuse me of being hysterical and making things up. And then I realized the truth. The Kajorans had been asking for personal meetings with the ambassadors and then putting mind control implants into their brains and through them had gotten access to the leaders of the various countries and put them under their control as well. Once that was accomplished, then they went after various organizations that could stop them. The CIA, FBI, MI6, INTERPOL, and others of that vein and last, but not least, Torchwood. _

_That is when they took me and my nightmare began._

_They did not put an implant in me. They did not deem me important enough. I was not a president or a prime minister or a dictator or queen. I was just the head of an organization that was interfering in their plans to conquer the world. So, instead of becoming a puppet like so many others, I was sent to one of those rumored mines the Kajorans had, which turned out to be in Antarctica…no wonder no one could say for sure if they had them or not. _

_For ten years, I toiled in a gold mine on the coast of Antarctica. You might think I was freezing my ass off, but quite the contrary. I was nice and warm thanks to the fact that the mine was deep below the ground. There was constant heat from the furnaces that were used to smelt the gold and mold it into small bricks that could be used by the Kajorans for their elaborate palaces and also for trade with other planets. The heat was stifling and the mines were dark and claustrophobic. It was hard to breathe and hard to see and the human mind slaves walked among us whipping and torturing us if we didn't work fast enough or hard enough. All of us worked without any clothes on, save a cotton loincloth that was wrapped around our crotches. Our heads were shaved and a prisoner identification number was tattooed on the back of it so our masters could know who we were if they needed to._

_I was one of the lucky ones, I was a digger. I toiled fourteen hours a day with a pickaxe and shovel digging out the tunnels and finding the gold nuggets that were sent to the furnaces. The ones who were forced to smelt the gold were the ones who were in Hell. The furnace heat was intense and many died of heat exhaustion from working near them. Most had burn injuries from the liquid gold that splattered onto their bodies. Many died in the furnaces themselves. Some accidentally fell into them, some were thrown into them as a punishment, and many threw themselves in to escape the horror of enslavement. The agonized screams and cries of mercy were almost nonstop, but I soon learned to tune it out. I had to so I wouldn't go insane._

_For the first few years, I still held onto the hope that the man I loved would return to free me and the other slaves from this torment and save the Earth from the cruelty of the Kajorans. I kept my ears open for any whispered rumor of him, any sign that perhaps he had found a way back to "Pete's World" and was starting a revolt to save us. As the years went by, the hope dwindled until there was nothing left and slowly I began to think less and less of that remarkable man until he was only a dim flicker in my mind. The torments of the mine toughened me up mentally and physically and I became an emotionless shell as a defense mechanism against the cruelties I was subjected to on a daily basis. Love no longer had any place in my life. What use was love when you were fighting for your very existence? I saw only darkness and despair around me and my life no longer held any happiness or any hope, there was nothing now except work, torment, and death. The girl that traveled with that remarkable man was no more. In her place was a hard, cynical woman who had forgotten how to laugh, how to have fun and how to love. _

_For ten years, I lived this hollow existence, digging day in and day out until I no longer knew what day, month, or year it was. Many of the slaves who worked around me slowly died out or were killed off, but I managed to hang on. Not for that remarkable man, I no longer thought of him now or even cared if he was alive or dead. No, I held on because I wanted revenge for what had been done to my fellow humans and me. I wanted to see the Kajorans suffer. So, I toiled away biding my time until the opportunity arose for escape. _

_And then one day it came. I happened to overhear a conversation between two of the mine slaves that a Kajoran commander was making an inspection of the mine and that he was ordered to keep an eye on the slaves to make sure they behaved themselves. I knew it was now or never, if I didn't act this time, I might not live long enough to try again. So, I waited and watched, trying to keep a low profile so the mind slaves wouldn't notice me and figure out what I was doing. I waited until they weren't looking before I managed to hide a pickaxe in the shadows near the elevator shaft. I don't know how long it was until the commander came, a day, two days, time has no meaning for me anymore since there is no natural light or clocks to mark the passing of time. I just bided my time, working near the spot where I had hidden my weapon, waiting for the commander to show._

_Just before he was about to make the inspection, the mind slaves began to round up the workers and collect their pickaxes and shovels. I surrendered the pickaxe I was holding so they would leave me alone, but when I was sure they weren't looking, I backed away into the shadows and slowly made my way back to the other pickaxe. It took awhile and for a moment or two, I thought someone had spotted me, but I managed to elude them. The ten years I had spent being a slave had not only taught me the layout of the mines, it had also given me the skills to elude my tormentors when I needed to. I made my way back to the place I had chosen and settled down to wait. _

_Then, I finally saw him. He was tall and reptilian with a lavender hue to his skin, just like the rest of his race. But he had an air of authority about him that said this was not someone to be messed with. That wasn't about to stop me though. I knew that his ship was nearby and there were at the max three mind slaves aboard it acting as the crew. Once I dispatched him, I had only minutes to make my escape up to the surface before I would be apprehended and put to death. It was a huge risk, but after ten years of suffering, it was a risk I was willing to take. _

_I crouched in the shadows like a lion stalking its prey inching ever closer to the commander as I clutched the pickaxe in my hands. He was speaking with a couple of the mind slaves and for a moment, I felt a flicker of anger at these betrayers of our kind, but it quickly passed. It wasn't their fault. The implant in their minds rendered them helpless to act against their Kajoran masters. As human beings, they were pretty much dead, just living, mindless hunks of flesh. They lived only to serve just like all the other mind slaves so I couldn't stay angry at them for something they couldn't help. _

_The mind slaves turned to lead the commander deeper into the mines and he turned with them. That was my chance to strike. Silently, I ran from the shadows and before the commander could defend himself planted the pickaxe in his skull. The mind slaves barely had a chance to react before I hit one in the face, knocking him out. The other grabbed me from behind intending to choke me. I rammed my foot down onto his. He let out a pained yell and let go. Without any compassion, I rammed the pickaxe into his head, rationalizing to myself that I was freeing him from a life of servitude and protecting myself by killing him. Then I grabbed the pickaxe out of his head and ran towards the elevator shaft. I pushed the button, turned, and held the pickaxe close to my body, taking a fighting stance in case anyone tried to stop me. The elevator arrived a moment later. I ran onto it and went up for the first time in ten years. _

_The elevator stopped and I saw three more mind slaves and two Kajoran foremen staring at me in shock. Mindlessly, I hacked my way through them, determined only to escape so I could eventually free others from the invaders. The mind slaves fell without much of a fight. The two foremen were better fighters and managed to hold their own for a couple of minutes, but my fighting skills had been honed long before when I traveled through time and space in the other universe, not to mention I was fighting for my own existence which made me even more determined to win. I finally bested both of them and once the last foreman fell dead at my feet, I hurried down the long shaft and out onto the surface of Antarctica. _

_The first few minutes outside of the mine was excruciating. The frigid air was a shock to my system and it nearly took my breath away. I was shivering violently, but the commander's ship was just outside the entrance, so I was able to run into it before I froze to death. Once inside, I found only two mind slaves instead of the three I was planning on and I quickly dispatched them with the pickaxe. After that, I started pushing buttons trying to start the ship. Luckily, I found it after only a couple of tries and was able to get the ship airborne. I managed to fly it back to England and after that, I ditched it and went into hiding. _

_I've been on the run since then, a wanted woman. I know that if I'm captured, I will be shown no mercy so whenever I run across anyone who wishes to harm or capture me, I show them no mercy in return. Slowly I have been able to rally others to my cause and put together a small resistance force who is dedicated to exterminating the Kajorans and reclaiming out world._

_For the past year, that is what I have been doing. Leading the small band of rebels and killing any Kajorans we come across. The remarkable man I once knew is now a part of my distant past and I don't expect to see him ever again._

_But, as he once told me so very long ago, never say never ever._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Rose breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the concrete wall that encircled the Kajoran Slave Processing Center. She and the man who had volunteered to go with her had gotten this far without being detected. She considered themselves lucky since there were scanners everywhere. But, she learned very quickly how to sneak past them. All that was left after that were two guards at the front gate, but they had been quickly dispatched with a hunting knife and dragged out of sight.

She sat down against the wall and brought her knees up as she kept a light grip on the submachine gun. Her black clothes and black hood camouflaged her perfectly in the darkness. She had smeared shoe polish on the part of her face that was visible through the hood making her almost invisible. Her comrade was attired in the same manner and the two of them waited patiently keeping an eye on the building twenty feet away from them. This was where the Kajorans brought the slaves to be catalogued, shaved, tattooed, and imprisoned for deportation to the mines.

She remembered coming here herself. A young, frightened girl, being hosed down with cold water in a small dirty room and then dragged sopping wet into a chair where she was restrained, shaved and tattooed while the Kajorans taunted her and told her all sorts of horrifying things about what they would do with her. A humiliating experience designed to break the person's will and fill them with such despair that they would not try to get away. That tactic had worked back then, but Rose was no longer afraid of anything. She had been to the depths of Hell and survived it, there was nothing else on this Earth that could faze her now, including death. What was death but the chance to rest and find some peace from the agony of existence. The only reason she had held on this long was because she knew she was only one of the only ones who could fight back and free the other humans from the cruelty of the Kajorans.

After all, she was Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth, wasn't she? She might as well live up to the title the Doctor had bestowed on her all those years ago.

Rose shook her head. The Doctor. If only he could see her now. She wondered briefly what he would make of his angel. The hardened woman with the military style crew cut that was just long enough to hide the despised prisoner tat, but not long enough for her enemies to grab onto her hair. The weather-beaten face with the long, thin scar that ran from her right temple down to her jaw line, a little souvenir from a Kajoran that she had encountered in a slave raid. He managed to slice her face open with his dagger before she wrestled it away from him and plunged it deep into his heart. Her arms and legs also had numerous scars on them from fights with the enemy and shrapnel scars from bombs and grenades. Her body was lithe and muscular from both her enslavement and the many battles she had fought. Rose shook her head. In twenty-two years, she had gone from being a simple shop girl to a time traveling companion to the head of an organization to a slave and finally, a soldier. Say what you wanted to about her life, it hadn't been ordinary, that was for sure.

"Tyler."

Rose looked at the man sitting next to her. Benjamin Drake. He had been ten when the Kajorans came for him and his family. His mum and dad had been separated from him and his sister and had been sent to a specially built warehouse where they were frozen and stored as food. His sister, who had been sixteen at the time, was sent to the uranium mines in Antarctica where she eventually died of radiation sickness. The Kajorans kept him as a little pet for their amusement, teaching him to do tricks so he could perform for them at banquets for scraps of food. He managed to kill his master and escape one night after eight years of servitude and went into hiding in the London sewers. For two and a half years he had lived off whatever he could find in rubbish bins and supplemented that diet with rats and mice that he trapped and killed and either ate raw or roasted when he managed to build a small fire. Then, six months ago, he finally found the resistance and after a quick training session was put under her command so she could look after him and show him the ropes. He had quickly proven himself a fierce and able fighter and Rose frequently enlisted him whenever she went out on missons.

"Yes, Ben," Rose said to him.

"Are you sure we can do this alone?" he asked her. "This is a pretty big raid. I mean, this is the main processing center."

Rose sighed.

"No, I'm sure we could have used a few more men, but it's easier to slip past the defenses if it's just the two of us. I think both of us are more than capable of freeing the slaves," she said. "I don't think there will be that many tonight. They already had a huge number of slaves come through earlier in the week and usually if there aren't that many, there are three or four Kajorans escorting the slaves into the building. You and I can handle four lousy lizards."

Ben nodded and leaned his head back against the wall as he rested his submachine gun in his lap. He was quiet for a moment and then he spoke.

"I heard the audio from the surveillance the other day. The Kajorans were talking about you. They were having a meeting and calling for your death. You have a million credit price on your head now."

A sardonic smile spread across Rose's face.

"Nice to know the Kajorans think so highly of me then," she said.

"Aren't you the least bit scared of them?"

Ben flinched when she turned her eyes to him. The hard, cold look she always had in her eyes unnerved him and every other fighter in the resistance. He had great respect for her knowing what she had gone through to get where she was today, but there were others who thought she was a hard ass and frequently referred to her as The Ice Queen when she wasn't around.

"I'm not afraid of anything or anybody," she said to him. "My fear left me a long time ago. I've seen and done things that would have turned most people insane and I've survived the unsurvivable. And as for death…"

She snorted disdainfully.

"I've already died twice inside, physical death is nothing to me now." She said.

Ben frowned.

"Died twice?"

"Yes, the enslavement did a good job of killing the person that I once was," she said to him.

"And the other death?"

He frowned when Rose paused and got a faraway look in her eyes.

"That happened years before the enslavement," she murmured to herself.

Ben couldn't help but noticed the unshed tears in her eyes. He had never seen her cry. No one had. He had heard some of the fighters mockingly say that she couldn't cry because that would require her to have a heart of some sort. To see even unshed tears in her eyes was remarkable and he couldn't help but wonder what had caused her to get all misty eyed when he had never seen her shed a tear at her enslavement.

"What happened?" he asked gently.

For a moment, Rose said nothing and then she blinked as if she suddenly remembered where she was. Her eyes instantly dried up and the hard, cold look was back.

"It doesn't matter, it's all in the past now," she said tersely. "What matters is the here and now!"

Ben nodded knowing that if he pressed her for information it would only make her angry. He admired Rose and was the only one out of all the fighters who had tried to be friends with her, but it was hard to be friends with a woman who refused to let anyone get too close. So, he was left to wonder what had happened in Rose Tyler's past that had wounded her just as deeply as her enslavement had. He figured it must have been monumental considering the amount of pain and torture she had suffered at the hands of the Kajorans.

He was jerked from his thoughts when Rose seized his arm.

"There they are," she whispered.

Ben looked over and noticed a truck backing up to the front entrance. The door opened and two Kajorans stepped outside the building waiting for the truck to stop. The truck stopped several feet away from the entrance and two Kajorans got out of the cab. They walked around to the back of the trailer, unlocked the door, and raised it, pulled out the ramp and one of them went inside. They heard the Kajoran inside the trailer barking orders to the captives and a moment later an orderly line of them started down the ramp towards the open door. The two Kajorans at the door pointed laser blasters at the frightened men, women, and children threatening to kill them at the slightest hint of resistance. Both Rose and Ben slid up against the wall and readied their submachine guns. Both of them paused a moment and then slowly they ran across the shadowy courtyard towards the Kajorans.

Both of them were hoping to reach the truck before the Kajorans spotted them. But one of the slaves happened to look across the courtyard and seeing them gave out a yell and tried to run to them. She was shot dead on the spot and the Kajorans at the door tried to herd the captives back onto the truck as Rose and Ben opened fire. They got one of the Kajorans straight away. The captives hearing the gun shots began to panic and ran in all directions in a mad scramble. The Kajorans killed some of them, but they were soon forced to turn their attention to Rose and Ben who were trying to get past the throng of panicked people to get at them.

Rose let out a frustrated yell when she saw a woman running mindlessly towards her keeping her from getting off a clear shot.

"Get out of the way!" she screamed at her.

The woman was so intent on just getting away that her mind didn't process what Rose had said to her. Rose let out a curse, flung herself out of the way of the woman, rolled across the ground, and killed the Kajoran she had been gunning for. Another Kajoran tried to grab at a prisoner intending to use him as a human shield but Ben took him out before he could get his hands on him.

By this time, several Kajorans had run out of the building firing their laser blasters at them. Rose and Ben fired at them killing several before they could get into the safety of the trailer. Rose and Ben went around the front of the truck and squatted down.

"Stay back here and draw their fire, I'm going up and over," Rose said to Ben.

Ben nodded. As he gave her some cover fire, Rose climbed up the cab and made her way to the top of the trailer. treading lightly across it, she crouched for a moment near the edge watching as the last few Kajorans ran out of the building and listened as their comrades inside the trailer screamed at them to get her and Ben. She waited until the group had run around the trailer and then gritting her teeth, she jumped down onto the ramp, spun around, and sprayed the shocked Kajorans with machine gun fire killing them all within seconds. She leapt off the ramp and quickly took care of the others who had turned around and were heading back towards her. Once the last one fell dead, she lowered her gun and sighed.

"Got em, Ben, we can begin freeing the prisoners now," she said walking around to the front of the cab.

She stopped short when she saw Ben. He was slumped against the front of the cab staring blankly into space as the last wisps of smoke drifted out of the hole in his forehead. Rose stared at her fallen comrade for a moment before she bellowed out a string of curses damning the Kajorans to Hell and vowing to kill every last one of them. Then, once she had gained control of herself again, she stomped past the scattered Kajoran corpses and into the factory to free the slaves.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The Doctor sighed angrily when he entered the control room and noticed Jack was sprawled out on the captain's chair with his boots off and his smelly feet stinking up the air. No matter how many times he had told him not to do that, he still insisted on taking his shoes off right where the Doctor liked to stand. He had tried everything to alleviate the smell from yelling at him to put his shoes back on to putting foot powder in his boots while he was sleeping, but it never helped. Jack always cleaned out the foot power and he always took off his shoes no matter how many times the Doctor asked him not to. Sighing, the Doctor knew it would just be a waste of breath to ask him again. So using his respiratory bypass system, he temporarily ceased his breathing so he could decide their next location.

"Heya, Doc, where we going to next?" Jack asked giving him a lazy smile.

"Not sure, what are you in the mood for?" the Doctor asked him.

Jack shrugged.

"Personally, I would like to find a nice pleasure planet and take a rest, but you're the one flying the ship," he said.

The Doctor made a face.

"Pleasure planet? You're already relaxing now. Not to mention you've been eating my food, sleeping in my bed, watching my TV, and using my whirlpool. What do you need a pleasure planet for?"

"Nookie?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"I knew it all came down to sex," he muttered.

"Hey, I haven't gotten any in a long time," Jack said shrugging.

"Well, if you want me to go back and get Ianto so you can have a bit of Nookie, then I will be more than happy to go back and get him," the Doctor said.

"Nah, Ianto doesn't like to travel with us, he thinks its way too dangerous."

"And catching Weevils isn't dangerous?" the Doctor said turning and leaning against the console.

"Well, he said at least when he's out catching Weevils he's still in Cardiff and knows his way around. He doesn't like running through ancient Egypt or Rome or Mesopotamia because he's out of his element then."

"But, that's half the fun," the Doctor protested.

"Yeah, well, not everyone enjoys your brand of fun, Doc," he said. "Ianto is happy leading the team in my absence. He loves that I trust him enough to lead the team, although he and Owen still butt heads about that on occasion."

Jack smiled.

His one complaint is you always bring me back too soon, but what he doesn't realize is you bring me back one or two days after I leave when in reality I've been gone for months at a time."

The Doctor shrugged.

"Some people have trouble grasping that particular concept of time travel," the Doctor said. "It doesn't help that you don't age physically, Jack, so even if you are gone for a very long time you can come back and still look the same. It adds to the illusion that you've only been gone a few days."

"Well, it's a good thing I am immortal then so I can do this traveling with you," Jack said. "I love my team to death and I do want to lead them but ever since I went with you and Martha to Malcasairo five years ago, I just got that bug back in me for traveling and having adventures with you. The only reason I declined at the time was because after that year of hell we went through I needed to take a rest from it, same as Martha. I needed to reconnect with my team and make sure they were okay, but at the same time, I still need that thrill I can only get with you. So when I saw Martha I asked her to give me the number to the cell phone you had so I could still travel with you when I felt the need to. And thankfully you didn't turn me down.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I asked you to come with me before, but as you said, you needed to go back and be with your team. That was never a one-time offer, Jack. The way I see it once you become my companion, you are my companion for life even if you decide at some point to take a break. That's why I took Martha back after she made sure her family was alright, why I let Donna come back after she refused me the first time, why I asked Sarah Jane to travel with me again after thirty years. There is no time limit on being a companion. As long as you want to travel with me; I'm willing to take ya."

"Well, that's good because once a time agent, always a time agent. I love Earth, but Earth is just a small fish in a big universal pond and sometimes this boy needs to do a bit of fishing."

The Doctor chuckled and nodded.

"I think that's why you and I have always gotten along so well, Jack. We both think alike."

"Yeah, we do. But, you know, there is one other person we know who also thinks the same as us."

The Doctor sighed and nodded.

"Yup," he said.

Jack regarded him silently for a moment.

"Do you think she's alright?" he asked the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled proudly.

"Oh yeah, Rose is doing fine," he said. "I know she's having the fantastic life I always envisioned for her. She knows how to take care of herself."

Jack was silent for a moment.

"Do you still miss her, Doc?" he asked.

"Yes, I think about her every day," The Doctor replied.

"Did…did you ever try to get back to her?"

The Doctor nodded.

"I tried a number of things, but none of them worked. I even put an alert in the TARDIS's computers that would tell me if a rift opened up somewhere."

"Is that still active?" Jack asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's a long shot and I know I told Rose that she couldn't ever see me again, but I just can't give up that hope, Jack. No matter how far fetched the idea of another rift opening up, I can't deactivate the alert because what if I did and a rift did open up, and I missed the opportunity to be with her again. I suppose I will also continue to think up any way to get to her for the rest of my lives. Rose wasn't like any other companion I've ever had. All the other companions who left, died, or were taken from me; I quickly got over them and moved on. I can't do that with Rose. No matter how hard I try, I can't forget her."

Jack shrugged.

"Maybe you can't forget her because you are meant to be together," he said turning on his side and tucking his arm under his head.

The Doctor considered that for a moment.

"If that is true, then why was she taken from me?" he said.

"Maybe the universe is testing you to see what you will do about it. To see if you will fight to get her back."

The Doctor frowned.

"Why would the universe do that?" he asked.

Jack smiled.

"Because the best things in life are worth fighting for," he said.

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"Well, Rose is certainly worth fighting for, that's for sure," he said.

"Just keep on trying, Doc, eventually something will work if you are meant to be together."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"When did you become so sentimental, Harkness?" he said.

"Since I found my Rose in the form of a little Welsh tea boy," Jack replied. "Before I fell in love with Ianto, I always pooh-poohed the notion of soul mates, but now I know differently. When I was chained down in the bowels of the Valiant, my mind kept wandering back to him and I kept wondering if he was alive or dead or if I would ever see him again. The Master tortured me, but I also tortured myself just as much because I was terrified that if I got free I would get back to the Hub and find him dead. That tormented me more deeply than any of the beatings I got from the Master and his goons. In a way, you were lucky because your loved one was in another universe away from all that. You didn't have to wonder if she was alive or dead, but I know you probably thought about her anyway just to keep your sanity, right?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Well, then I'm pretty sure you and her are meant to be," Jack said.

"That may be, Jack, but the question is does she feel that way about me?"

Jack stared at him in disbelief.

"Um, I'm pretty sure she does since she told you she loved you the last time you saw her."

The Doctor closed his eyes briefly remembering her face when she said that to him and letting those words echo in his mind for a moment before he opened his eyes and looked at Jack again.

"That was five years ago, though. She could have moved on by now. She might have forgotten about me."

Jack snorted.

"I seriously doubt that, Doc. If she's working for Torchwood, I'm sure she's been using their resources to try to find a way back to you."

"She better not be doing that, especially since it was Torchwood's fault she was pulled over there in the first place," the Doctor said.

"I wouldn't put it past her though. If Rose is one thing, it's bullheaded."

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it," he muttered as Jack laughed.

Jack sat up.

"You know what, Doc, I think I'll go ahead and take a shower while you are figuring out where to go," he said stretching.

"Good! Then you can wash your smelly feet and spare me the smell!"

Jack gave him an offended look.

"My feet don't smell!" he said gesturing to them.

"The hell they don't, I keep having to spray air freshener in here just so I can breathe."

"Why don't I smell it then?" Jack countered.

"Because you are used to your stench. It doesn't bother you like it bothers everyone else!"

"It is not a stench. It is my scent," Jack said.

"Well, if that's your so-called scent then you and Pepe le Pew must be related."

Jack's mouth dropped open.

"Now wait just a minute, Doc! That is not fair! I…"

He trailed off when a high-pitched beeping suddenly came from the monitor. Jack stared at it.

"Um, is it normal for your computer to make that noise or do I need to duck under the seat now?" he asked him.

The Doctor frowned as he walked over to it. He punched in a few commands and stared at the screen silently. Jack watched as his eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

"Um, the Master hasn't returned, has he?" Jack asked when the Doctor stared at the monitor, dumbfounded.

Slowly he turned and looked at Jack, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing.

"It's that alert I was telling you about," he said in a near whisper. "The one I set five years ago to tell me when a rift opened up. The TARDIS just found one, Jack, and she's heading for it…right now."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Jack stared at him.

"Say that again. My brain didn't quite process that," he said.

"The TARDIS has found a rift in time and space and she's heading towards it," the Doctor said.

"You mean we're crossing over the void…now?" Jack said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Did you have other plans that the TARDIS is interrupting?" he said.

"No, I mean, I just…"

A smile spread across his face.

"Oh God, we're actually going to go see Rose." He whispered.

He looked at the Doctor who was just as happy as he was.

He gasped as the TARDIS suddenly began to shake violently.

"What's going on," he said gripping the captain's chair.

The Doctor gripped the console and looked back at him.

"We're going through the void now," he replied to him. "Just hold on, it's gonna be bumpy for a few minutes."

"I just hope it stops before all my teeth are shaken out of my head," Jack replied.

True to his word, after a few minutes, the TARDIS became calm again. Jack looked at the Doctor.

"Did we make it?" he asked him.

The Doctor loosened his grip on the console and walked over to the monitor. He stared down at it for a moment and looked back at Jack.

"Yes, we've made it," he said.

Jack raised his eyebrow.

"Why do I sense a "but" coming after that," he said.

The Doctor sighed.

"We made it, but we've landed at a point fifteen years later than our own time," he said.

Jack frowned.

"So, it's been twenty years since you were separated then."

The Doctor nodded.

"So, Rose is forty now."

The Doctor nodded.

Jack's mind boggled at that.

"Wow, it's gonna be strange seeing her when she's that old. I wonder what's she been doing up to this time?"

He noticed the look in the Doctor's eyes when they heard the TARDIS land and power down.

"Doctor?" he said.

"I didn't expect to land this far in Rose's future," he said softly. "I hoped that the rift would come out five years in her future or maybe even earlier. Twenty years…a lot can happen in twenty years…"

"Doc?"

The Doctor turned back to the console.

"Twenty years…" he murmured.

Jack finally realized what was going on. He stood up and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Doc, she still loves you," he said.

The Doctor spun around and stared at him with so much fear and apprehension that it made Jack uneasy.

"What if she doesn't?" he murmured as he stared at him with anguish in his eyes. "What if she's moved on, has a family, a husband, children, a career, what if---"

"She's gone domestic?" Jack said trying to be humorous.

He cleared his throat when he saw his attempt at levity wasn't working.

"So, now what, Doc? You gonna turn back around, go back and wait for another rift to open up and hope that rift will lead you back to the moment after you vanished in front of Rose'?" he asked. "Are you gonna let all these fears stop you before you've even started? Personally, I would at least get out of the TARDIS and look around before you've condemned the whole rescue Rose mission to failure. You just assume that since twenty years have passed that Rose is sung as a bug in a rug in her little ranch style house with her loving husband and two kids and spending her days happily driving them to football practice in the SUV and taking them to dance recitals and baking cookies and hosting little neighborhood get-togethers. You automatically assume all this instead of imagining that maybe Rose will be waiting for you after all this time and will run back into your waiting arms. Don't you think there's a possibility of that scenario happening?"

The Doctor sighed.

"I just don't want to find her and find that she has moved on and doesn't want me in her life anymore," he said.

Jack sighed.

"I love you, I will never leave you, can't get rid of me, they keep trying to split us up, but they never ever will, ring some bells?" Jack quoted to him.

The Doctor sighed.

"I knew it was a mistake to open up my hearts to you about that," he said.

"Well…you notice there's a pattern there?"

"It's been twenty years since she said those things."

Jack threw up his hands.

"I don't know what to tell you then. Either you go outside, find her and risk getting your hearts broken or you turn around and go back to the safety of the other universe and miss your chance and mope around for the rest of your lives wondering what if? Those are your choices as far as I can see."

The Doctor sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I just can't believe that after facing Cybermen and Daleks and Sontarans and other assorted monsters, I'm scared to face one human girl,"

Jack shrugged.

"That one human girl has a close, personal relationship with you. As far as I know no Cyberman, Dalek, or Sontaran has ever cried their eyes out and told you they loved you, have they? I mean if a Slitheen doesn't send you flowers on Valentine's Day, you aren't huddled in the corner crushed because the Slitheen doesn't love you, right? If it had been a Dalek standing there on Bad Wolf Bay telling you that it loved you, would you have cared?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Exactly why I should have never gotten involved with her in the first place. It's the curse of the Time Lords."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"There is no such thing as a curse of the Time Lords, that's just a lame excuse you use to keep people at a distance so you won't have to risk getting your hearts broken," he said. "And you know what, this whole "curse" of yours probably killed a lot of loving relationships you could have had with your other companions. Think of all the happiness you missed, Doc, because you kept people at arm's length. For once in your life, take a chance and make a grab at true happiness before it's too late and you go through all your regenerations until you finally die a bitter, angry, regretful, lonely man."

He shoved his finger in his face.

"Doctor, go outside that door and go find Rose Tyler and find out if she still wants to be with you, that's an order!" he said.

The Doctor stared at the finger and the stern look on Jack's face and suddenly erupted into laughter.

"I mean it, Doctor," Jack said angrily.

The Doctor laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I know you do, and I'm not laughing at that. It's just that you don't do stern looks very well especially since I know how easygoing you are to begin with."

A smile slowly spread over Jack's face. He tried to keep his face stern, but eventually he erupted into giggles. The Doctor grinned and patted him on the shoulder.

"Come on, old friend, let's go get Rose," he said.

"Aye aye, sir," Jack said saluting him.

Grinning from ear to ear, he followed the Doctor to the front door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The smile fell off Jack's face when he stepped outside. He shut the door and came up beside the Doctor who was staring around with wide eyes. They had landed in the middle of London…or at least Jack thought it was London. This London looked like a war zone. The streets were completely deserted. There was evidence of bomb and blaster damage on some of the buildings and some of the cars were shot up. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Rose was sucked into this?" he said.

"It didn't look like this before," the Doctor murmured. "It looked like London except there were zeppelins flying overhead."

They looked up, but there was nothing in the skies.

"Um, are you sure it's the right universe then?" Jack said.

"I…I don't know," the Doctor admitted. "There are hundreds of parallel universes; it could be possible we landed in the wrong one."

Then he had a thought and his face fell.

"Oooooh no…" he said.

Jack frowned.

"What, what's wrong?"

"Damn her! Damn her to hell!"

Jack gave him a shocked look.

"Rose? What did she do?"

The Doctor rounded on him.

"No, I'm not talking about her," he snarled. "I'm talking about Harriet Jones!"

"The Prime Minister?" he said confused.

"Yes, except here she is the president," the Doctor said with barely controlled anger. "She supposedly was leading Britain into a golden age."

He gestured around him.

"I have a feeling this devestation is the result of her "Golden Age" he said. " I warned Pete to keep an eye on her. I knew nothing good would come of her and now look at this place. I'm willing to bet my remaining three lives that she is responsible for all this! That woman probably blew up another spaceship and brought an attack down on the city. She better not still be alive because if she is I will throttle that woman to death with my bare hands!"

He paused and took a couple of deep breaths.

"I can't think about that now though," he said shaking his head. "If this has happened, I have to find Rose and make sure she and her family are alright. And if something has happened to them…"

He trailed off and shook his head. Composing himself, he put his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Come on, let's go find them," he said to him.

Jack nodded. He checked to make sure his gun was ready before following the Doctor further into the city.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The door was flung open startling the two resistance fighters who were sitting around a table going over surveillance information. They looked over and saw a man sticking his head in.

"Watch it, guys, the Ice Queen is on the warpath." He warned them.

He looked off to his right and hurried away from the door. A moment later, Rose stomped into the room, an enraged look on her face. The man and woman flinched as she kicked the door closed and stomped over to them.

"What happened? Where's Ben?" the woman asked.

Rose sat down at the head of the table and sighed angrily.

"Ben is dead, the lizards got em," she muttered.

She slammed her hand down on the table.

"Damn then, damn them all to Hell!" she said. "I'll blast every last one of them to bits for this!"

The woman shifted uneasily. No one liked it when Rose was in a mood because she took it out on everyone else. Wanting to change the subject, she looked up at a clock on the wall and noticed it was nearing eight in the morning.

"Where were you all night?" she asked hesitantly.

Rose glared at her.

"I spent most of the night cleaning out the processing center and killing the last of the lizard scum that was hiding in there. Then, I had to clean out the back of the truck, put some of the slaves inside, take them to the safe house, come back, get another bunch of slaves, take them to the safe house, come back and over and over and over until all of them were safe. Then, I got Ben's body, broke into an abandoned hardware store, got a shovel, and gave him a decent burial so the lizards wouldn't get their claws on him. That's where I've been all night, Jenny." She said coldly.

"Why didn't you come back and get some of us?" the man said. "We could have helped you."

"Because I wanted to get it done before any more lizards showed up," she said. "The raid and Ben were my responsibility so I took it upon myself to handle it on my own."

"Yes, but you know, Rose, you don't have to do it all yourself. We're here to help---"

"There was no time, Toby!" Rose snarled at him. "I'm fine! I can handle myself, all right. Just worry about yourselves and let me worry about me!"

She glowered at him for a moment before Toby looked away from her intense gaze. She shook her head, muttering under her breath, and turned her attention to the documents in the middle of the table.

"What's this, more surveillance?" she said gesturing to it.

Toby glanced at Jenny relieved that she was changing the subject.

"Yes, we have some spy reports from last night and there's been some more chatter between the Kajorans. They know about the raid and they're doubling their efforts to find us."

"So, what else is new?" Rose said rolling her eyes. "They've been trying to find us for close to a year now and they haven't done it."

Toby glanced at the others.

"Well, apparently now they are going to be bringing in specialized fighters to look for us in general and you in particular. They put a price on your head and now there are several bounty hunters who are interested in collecting it."

Rose snorted.

"Let em come after me, I'll blast them to bits along with their lizard employers," she said. "Anything else?"

"We haven't heard of them bringing in any more slaves for deportation," Jenny said. "We don't know if that's because they aren't needing slaves at the moment or if they've finally caught on that we've been listening in on their conversations. I'm hoping it's the former though."

"Well, even if they don't need slaves, they'll always need food so I'm sure eventually there'll be another shipment coming in," Rose replied. "We just have to keep our eyes and ears open and be aware of their movements."

She sighed angrily when Toby and Jenny glanced nervously at each other.

"What is it?" Rose said. "What else are they planning?"

Toby sighed.

"This is just a rumor until we can confirm it, Rose, but…the Kajorans are planning to bomb the city in order to flush us out. They want to send in the bounty hunters first, but if that doesn't work…"

Rose gritted her teeth.

"Damn them," she said under her breath.

She took a deep breath.

"Then, you know what, if they are gonna do that, then we need to figure out a plan to stop them before they get that far! We need to find a way to sabotage their ships so they can't harm any more innocent civilians."

"Um, yes Rose, we agree with you on that," Toby said. "But the only way we could do that is to get onto the mothership and sabotage the ships that way."

"Then I will do that,"

The two fighters stared at her in shock.

"Rose, it's suicide," Jenny said. "You can't just waltz onto the mothership and sabotage the ships by yourself. There's hundreds of Kajorans in there. You'll be killed before you even reach the hangar bay."

"I am the leader of the resistance!" Rose said to her. "I have experience dealing with aliens. I was the head of Torchwood. I'm the only one who has a hope of getting aboard and disabling the ships. The rest of you need to keep the raids up and kill any Kajorans you come across. Leave this sabotage mission to me!"

"Rose, you're gonna need backup of some kind!" Toby said. "You think you can do this stuff all by yourself and you are able to handle some things alone, but not this. This is too big! You need help!"

"From who?" Rose asked him. "Do you know anything about disabling alien systems and sabotaging spaceships? Do either of you know how to do that? Does anyone here know how to do it apart from me?"

Toby and Jenny glanced at each other and shook their heads.

"Well then, I'll be the one to go in and risk my life. You and the other fighters just worry about keeping them so distracted that they won't have time to mount a defense and blast us off the map. We need to attack them in every possible way we can especially since we don't have as many fighters as them. We need to keep them constantly on the defensive so they can't assemble a large attack force to flush us out. Trust me; I know what I'm doing."

She sighed and rose from her seat.

"And now if you don't mind, I've had a long night and I want to get a few hours sleep," she said.

Without another word, she turned on her heel, opened the door, and left the room. Toby looked at Jenny.

"This whole Rambo attitude of hers is gonna get her killed someday," Toby said.

"Maybe that's the idea," Jenny replied shrugging.

They looked up when a couple of young men entered the room.

"Guys, we were walking back from gathering surveillance and we saw something strange,"

Toby and Jenny looked at each other.

"What do you mean, strange?" Toby asked them.

"Well, we were coming back from our stakeout with Tom and Louise when suddenly we heard this weird wheezing noise and this blue phone booth just materialized out of nowhere and these two men got out of it."

Toby and Jenny gave them shocked looks.

"A phone booth with two men in it appeared out of nowhere?" Toby said not sure if he was hearing him right. "Bruce, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, as God as my witness, we saw a phone booth just appear out of thin air." He replied. "We were nearby and we ducked into a nearby building in the nick of time."

"Did these two men say anything?"

Bruce glanced at his friend.

"Yes, they were talking about Rose," he said. "They were talking about wanting to find her and her family."

Toby's eyes boggled.

"Oh my God, they're sending in the bounty hunters already? The Kajorans don't waste time," he said to Jenny. "What do these men look like?"

"They're human or humanoid, both have short dark hair, both are Caucasian, both are wearing long coats, one of them is skinnier than a rail and he's wearing a brown pinstriped suit and tan trench coat and the other is more muscular and he's wearing a navy blue shirt, black pants and a navy blue coat."

"Armed?"

"Yes, the one wearing the navy blue coat has a gun. We saw him checking it before they walked off."

Toby groaned.

"Great, just what we need, the bounty hunters coming to bother us and shoot up the city." He muttered to himself.

He looked at Bruce.

Is anyone keeping an eye on them?"

"Yes, Tom and Louise stayed behind and are shadowing them right now." He said.

"Good, we need to know where they are going and what they are doing. If these are the first of the bounty hunters, we need to take them out before they can find us and tell others. Just be sure to check back in with them from time to time so we can know what they're up to and keep an eye on their ship too."

"Right!" Bruce said as he and the other man nodded.

Toby sighed and looked at Jenny when they left the room.

"This day is just getting worse and worse," he said to her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Rose lay on her cot and stared up at the ceiling. The door was shut and she was all alone so she finally let her guard down and allowed herself to silently weep for Ben. He was young, far too young. The Kajorans had come into his life and destroyed it. They took his family, his freedom and now they had taken his life. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that these invaders had come and ruined everyone's life including hers. Because of them, her family members were dead and missing now. Her mum and little brother were sent to the freezers and Pete and Mickey were deported to the mines. That was almost eleven years ago and she hadn't heard from them since. She assumed they were both dead now since not many survived past the first five years of enslavement. She was all alone now with no one to turn to, no shoulder to cry on, and no arms to hold her. She was the one who had to be strong, who had to lead the resistance and carry the responsibility of winning on her shoulders.

She knew that it was suicide going into the mothership alone, but after losing Ben, she didn't want to see anyone else getting killed in such a senseless way. Truth be told, the real reason she wanted to go it alone was because she was tired of being alive and was hoping that maybe someone really would kill her. After surviving ten years of hell and having the stress of being the leader of the resistance, she was ready to just chuck it in and find some peace at last. The thought of not wanting to live anymore made her cry harder, but what else was there for her? Even if they did live long enough to rid the Earth of the Kajorans, there was nothing for her to go back to now. She had no family; her friends were dead or missing and no job waiting for her when she stopped being a soldier. The death and destruction she had witnessed and been a part of had changed her forever and she seriously doubted she would be able to adjust properly back into society, if there was still a society after they won the war.

She turned her head to the wall and squeezed her eyes shut when she felt memories of the Doctor threatening to surface. The Doctor was the last person she wanted to think of now, but the harder she tired, the more his face came pushing through her thoughts and her heart ached wishing she could see him again for just one second so she could get a loving word or some encouragement from him. She hated herself for continuing to dwell on him twenty years after she last saw him. He had probably moved on, happily traveling time and space with some new companion at his side. Probably already took her to New Earth, laid on the same spot they had laid on and sniffed the apple grass with her. She was probably just a flicker in his mind now and he probably had neglected to mention her to his new companions just like he had done with Sarah Jane. She shook her head. She couldn't keep doing this. He had his life and she had hers, such as it was. Thinking of him always brought up the temptation to think of what the rebellion would be like if they had his help and she couldn't let herself do that. She couldn't fight the war in her imagination and dream of the Doctor riding in on Arthur to save the day and defeat the Kajorans. She had to be practical and fight the war without his aid. And if that meant possibly blowing up the mothership with her inside it, then that was a sacrifice she was willing to take. So, once again, she found herself cramming the memories of him far back into the recesses of her mind so she could concentrate on the task at hand. Drying her eyes, she sighed and let herself drift into an uneasy sleep knowing that the rebellion needed her with a rested mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack couldn't believe his eyes as he looked around at the devastated city. It was like something out of a nightmare. He wondered if their London had looked like this after the Master had taken control. The fact that there had been a duplicate of Rose's mum and dad in this world made him wonder if there was a duplicate of him and his team as well. If there were, were they safe? Was this world's Ianto safe? Quickly, he pushed that thought from his mind. Even if there was a Ianto in this reality, it wasn't his Ianto. Still, the thought that there was another him possibly running around somewhere was intriguing. He made a mental note to possibly get a hold of a computer and see if there was another Jack, just out of curiosity.

He glanced over at the Doctor and swallowed hard. He saw the silent rage on his face and knew that the Doctor was probably stewing over what Harriet Jones had done. He found it hard to believe that Harriet Jones would be responsible for this. The handful of times that he and his team had to deal with her in the past, she had seemed like a nice woman and very levelheaded. He always thought she had been a good prime minister, at least she didn't try to destroy the whole world and control it like a certain other someone, but apparently, the Doctor had seen a side of her that he had not. At any rate, it was better not to ask questions now, especially when the Doctor was already angry about the devastation.

As they continued along the deserted streets, Jack looked over to say something to the Doctor and stopped short when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. For a moment, he could have sworn someone had just ducked behind a rubbish skip in the alley beside them. The Doctor stopped and looked back at him.

"What is it?" he asked him.

"Thought I saw someone," Jack replied staring into the alley.

He brushed aside his coat, reached for his Webley and clicked off the safety. He rested his hand on the butt of the gun as he slowly walked towards the alley. The Doctor reached into his inside jacket pocket, got out his screwdriver and followed behind him. As they neared the skip, Jack brought his Webley out of its holster and held it in front of him while the Doctor did the same with his screwdriver. They quietly walked around the skip taking care not to step on anything that might give them away. They neared the edge and stopped. Jack looked back at the Doctor and he nodded. Jack nodded back and counting silently to three, he darted around the side of the skip. He let out a curse when he didn't see anyone there and he and the Doctor quickly looked around the alley. Finding no one, Jack shrugged.

"Maybe I was seeing things," he said to him.

He put his gun back in its holster as he followed the Doctor out of the alley. As they left, they didn't see the skip lid slowly raise up and two pairs of eyes watching them from within it.

They turned out of the alley and made their way up the street. As they walked, they suddenly saw two purple-skinned lizard men turn the corner up ahead of them. Everyone stopped and stared at each other.

"Okay, here's something you don't see everyday in London," Jack quipped.

The lizards looked at one another and drew their blasters.

"Stay right there, humans!" one of them hissed as they hurried towards them.

"Gee, let me guess, these are the people responsible for turning London into a war zone," Jack muttered to Doctor.

"Well, they're not here on holiday, that's for sure," the Doctor muttered back.

He gave them a cheerful smile and waved as they walked up to them.

"Hello, nice day, isn't it. I love the hustle and the bustle of London…only problem is there's no hustle and bustle for some reason, perhaps you can explain why that is?" he said to them.

The Kajorans looked at each other.

"Where are your passes?" one of them demanded.

The Doctor glanced at Jack.

"Passes?" he said.

"Yes, your pass that gives you permission to be outside your designated area!"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he reached into his pocket and took out his psychic paper.

"I'm so sorry, a thousand apologies," he said with mock sweetness. "I keep forgetting to keep the pass visible at all times."

He held the psychic paper up to them.

"Here you go, our passes that says we can be out of our designated area." The Doctor said.

He gasped when the Kajoran thrust his blaster in his face.

"This is a fake pass!" he snarled.

"Nice one, Doc," Jack said.

"Well, I can't help it. I don't know what these passes look like. I just figured I could think one up and they wouldn't know the difference," he said to him.

He grunted when the Kajoran grabbed his arm, swung it around behind his back, and grabbed hold of him from behind. Jack tried to help him, but the other Kajoran shoved his blaster in his face.

"You and your friend have broken the law, human," the Kajoran said to the Doctor. "You both will be taken to the processing center and then you will spend the rest of your miserable lives in the mines of Antarctica."

"Is that where you've taken everyone else?" the Doctor snarled at him.

He gasped when the Kajoran wrenched his arm.

"Silence, slave, or you will be sent to the freezers instead!" he said to him.

"I don't know what's been going on here, but trust me, it will end now!" the Doctor grunted at him.

He gasped when the Kajoran jerked his arm further up his back.

"How dare you talk back to me? You will be tortured and then you will be cooked and served as the main course at a banquet for us. We will dine on your flesh, beast!"

He jerked his arm up nearly to the breaking point. He grinned as the Doctor fought to keep the pain under control.

"And your friend will share the same fate," he hissed in his ear. "You are so thin I don't there's enough meat on your bones to satisfy even one Kajoran, so he'll have to be added to the banquet. I---"

The Kajoran's taunting was interrupted by a bullet entering his brain. The Doctor gave Jack a shocked look as the corpse fell away from him.

"Don't look at me, I didn't do it." he protested.

"How dare you!" the remaining Kajoran said leveling his blaster at the Doctor's head. "You will join him in death, human! I---"

The Doctor flinched when a bullet struck the Kajoran in the same place as his comrade. He looked at Jack as he fell down dead.

"I swear, I'm not doing it," Jack protested holding up his hands.

The Doctor looked down at the Webley still in the holster.

"See, I told ya!" Jack said.

"Okay, so who did it then?"

"That would be us!"

The Doctor and Jack spun around and saw a man and a woman coming out of the alley.

"Aha!" Jack said triumphantly. "I knew there was someone in that alley!"

His triumph was short lived when the man and woman aimed their Berettas at them. The Doctor sighed angrily as he and Jack put their hands up.

"Are you planning to send us to the mines too or the freezers or cook us and eat us?" the Doctor said to them.

"Why did they attack you?" the man asked him.

The Doctor stared at him.

"Um, my guess is they wanted to send us to the mines or the freezer or cook us and eat--"

"Are you bounty hunters?" the woman said.

The Doctor and Jack glanced at each other.

"No." the Doctor said.

The man frowned.

"Why are you looking for Rose Tyler then?" he asked.

The Doctor widened his eyes.

"You know Rose?" he said hopefully.

He gasped when the man shoved the Beretta in his face.

"Um, maybe that wasn't such a good thing to ask him, Doc," Jack said.

"Who are you? Who do you work for?" the man demanded.

The Doctor sighed.

"I am the Doctor," he said annoyed. "This is Jack, we don't work for anyone, least of all the two dead lizards behind us. We are friends of Rose Tyler."

The woman snickered and leaned in to the man.

"Friends? You mean the bitch actually has some?" she said.

She gasped when the Doctor lunged her way with murder in his eyes.

"Oh, lady, you just said the wrong thing," Jack said to her.

"Don't you dare call her that again! Do you understand me?" the Doctor bellowed at her.

The woman, shocked by the enraged look on his face, nodded meekly. The Doctor looked at the man who backed up slightly when he saw how dark his eyes had become.

"I don't know what's going on here, but we are not bounty hunters," he growled at him. "We are old friends of Rose Tyler and we've travelled a long way to find her. Now if you don't take us to her this instant, I will do a number of unpleasant things to you that I guarantee you won't like! Got that?"

The man and woman looked at each other. The man leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Should we?" he asked her. "It could be a trap."

The woman glanced at the Doctor who was staring at them impatiently.

"It could be, Tom, but on the other hand if they are bounty hunters, we'll be taking them off the streets," she whispered. "We'll blindfold them and lead them there. Then we'll put them in a room and have Rose get a look at them. She'll tell us if they are her friends or not."

"And if they aren't?" Tom said.

The woman glanced at the Doctor and Jack and leaned in closer.

"Then they die," she said in a barely audible whisper.

Tom nodded. They broke apart and he looked at the Doctor.

"We'll take you to our headquarters on one condition," he said.

"We have to be blindfolded and then Rose gets to take a look at us and if she doesn't recognize us, we die," the Doctor said.

He smirked at their shocked looks.

"I have excellent hearing," he said proudly.

"Now's not the time to show off, Doc," Jack whispered to him when he saw the wary looks on their faces.

The Doctor sighed when the two fighters hesitated.

"I'm sorry," he said to them. "I didn't mean to startle you; I have a problem with keeping my gob shut sometimes. I give you my word we will come along quietly and submit to any test to prove we are who we say we are. Now could you please take us to Rose?"

Tom still wasn't entirely convinced, but he looked down at the dead Kajorans behind him and figured that they couldn't be bounty hunters since the Kajorans attacked them and were threatening to deport and kill them. He nodded.

"Alright, just keep your hands up where we can see them and turn around," Tom said.

The Doctor and Jack turned around. Tom looked at the woman.

"Louise, you take him and I'll take the Doctor here," he said gesturing to Jack.

Louise nodded. She took the Webley from Jack's holster and laid it on the ground behind her. Both of them patted down their captives. Tom finished patting down the back and did the front as the Doctor waited patiently. He paused when he felt something in the Doctor's right jacket pocket. Reaching in he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and stared at it.

"What's this?" he said to the Doctor.

"Torch," the Doctor said without missing a beat.

Tom stared at it for a moment and then put it back in the Doctor's pocket. He patted the other pocket and felt a bulge there. He pulled out a little white bag.

"What's this?" he asked the Doctor.

"Licorice. Want some, help yourself," he said.

The Doctor shrugged when Tom put the bag back in his pocket without taking any.

"Can I have some?" Jack asked.

The Doctor glanced at him.

"You can have one when we get to the interrogation room, but just one, I don't want you to spoil your dinner," he said.

Jack pouted as Tom gave the Doctor an odd look.

"What? We're not allowed to have sweets while we're waiting to be beaten and tortured?" the Doctor said to him.

He gave Tom an innocent look as he sighed and shook his head.

"Wiseasses, just what we need," he muttered.

He stepped back around them and pulled a couple of black hoods out of his pockets while Louise picked up the Webley and aimed it and her Beretta at their backs. He put the hoods on the Doctor and Jack's heads.

"Do a lot of kidnapping and interrogating, do you?" the Doctor said.

"It pays to be prepared," Tom told him. "Especially since you never know who you are going to run into out here. Now just turn to your right and walk a few paces past the dead bodies and then after that, just walk straight. We'll tell you where to go."

The Doctor and Jack turned and walked a couple of feet.

"Good, now turn back and walk straight ahead," Tom said.

Both of them turned and walked as Tom and Louise kept their weapons pointed right at their backs.

"I'm so glad Rose got sent to this universe," Jack said to the Doctor. "It must be a load of laughs living here."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The Doctor and Jack walked along the streets of London. They were completely in the dark and at the mercy of two people who they knew didn't completely trust them. For all they knew they were leading them somewhere where they could shoot them. The Doctor hated doing this. He hated not being in control of a situation, especially a life or death situation, but if it meant he could see Rose, he was willing to put up with it.

Judging from the many times they had to turn their bodies, the Doctor figured they were taking them in a roundabout way in case they were trying to figure out where this headquarters was at. That was another thing that was irking the Doctor and it got to the point where he couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"You know, Jack and I aren't gonna tell anyone where you guys have your little headquarters. You don't have to take us all over England just to throw us off the scent!" he said to them.

"We're nearly there now," Tom said.

"Good, because for a moment there I thought your little hidey-hole was up in Aberdeen," the Doctor replied.

He heard Jack chuckle at that, but their captors remained silent.

"No sense of humor, I see," the Doctor muttered to himself.

After a few more minutes, the Doctor felt Tom grab his arm.

"Stop and turn to your left," he said.

The Doctor obeyed and sensed Jack turning behind him.

"Now, we're gonna lead you because there are steps in front of you," Tom said.

"Oh, well it's kind of you to keep us from stumbling on the steps and breaking our noses," the Doctor said. "I guess that way you can break them yourselves later on."

He heard Tom sigh and felt him jerk his arm.

"Step in front of you, step, step, step, step, and stop."

The Doctor heard Tom unlocking a door and opening it.

"Just us," he said to someone. "We're bringing two prisoners in for questioning."

The Doctor surmised that the guard or guards were okay with that because he felt Tom grab his arm again.

"Straight," he said to him.

The Doctor walked into the room and felt Tom guide him through the house. At one point, they stopped both him and Jack and they heard him knocking out some kind of code on what sounded like a wall. He heard something heavy sliding open in front of him and felt Tom grab his arm again.

"Straight," he said.

They were led down a couple of corridors and finally they heard a door open in front of them.

"Inside," Tom said.

He led the Doctor inside and sat him down on a chair. He felt Jack sit down beside him.

"So now what, we just wait?" The Doctor asked.

He grunted when he felt a strap being put around his chest and tightened behind him. His legs were then grabbed and strapped against the front legs of the chair. He guessed from Jack's cursing that they were doing the same thing to him.

"I'm sorry," he heard Tom say. "We still don't know for sure if you are telling the truth and given what we do, it's better to be safe than sorry. If you are who you say you are then I apologize in advance for your mistreatment."

"Never mind that," the Doctor said. "Just go get Rose so we can get this over with!"

He heard Tom and a couple of other people walk out of the room and then the door slammed shut.

"So, are we alone then?" Jack said.

"How should I know, I'm hooded the same as you and since my arms are now bound to the sides of my body, I can't take off the hood to check," the Doctor replied.

"You don't think there's a firing squad in front of us, do you?" Jack asked.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the Doctor suddenly screamed,

"HEY, IS THERE A FIRING SQUAD IN FRONT OF US? IF THERE IS, COCK YOUR GUNS! WE WANNA SAY OUR LAST WORDS BEFORE YOU SHOOT!"

He paused a moment, listening intently.

"Nope, no cocking sound, so my guess is no," the Doctor said.

"Hardy har har, Doc," Jack replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tom cracked opened the door to Rose's room and looked in. The room was dark and Rose was lying on her side facing the wall. He paused a moment and sighed when he heard her snoring softly.

"Oh great, I have to wake her up," he muttered.

He opened the door wider and walked over to the cot. He hesitated a moment dreading the angry response he was gonna get when she woke up. Tentatively, he reached out his hand and shook her shoulder.

"Rose."

He gasped and jumped back when Rose grabbed a knife under her pillow and swiveled her body around in one fluid motion, ready to attack. She sighed angrily when she saw who it was.

"Damn it, Tom, I told you never to wake me up like that," she said angrily as she stuffed her knife back under her pillow.

"I'm sorry, Rose, but this is important. We just picked up two men off the street. They claim to know you."

Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Bounty hunters?" she asked.

"They don't claim to be, they say they're old friends of yours and they've been looking for you."

Rose narrowed her eyes.

"Really, and did they give you their names?" she asked.

Tom nodded.

"Yeah, said their names were the Doctor and Jack."

He paused and stared at Rose when he suddenly noticed all the color had drained from her face.

"It can't be," she murmured.

"Rose, do you know them?"

"It can't be them, it's impossible."

She looked at Tom.

"Where are they?" she said to him.

"They're bound and hooded in the interrogation room. We allowed them to come back here, but took the precaution in case they were spies or bounty hunters. Like I said, they say they're not and the Kajorans didn't seem to recognize them since Louise and I just killed two when they threatened to kill them. It could be possible that they've got the information in your file and got two people to pose as this Doctor and Jack and then had two Kajorans pretend to arrest them to make us think---"

Rose held her hand up and shook her head.

"No, I never told the Kajorans about the Doctor or Jack," she said. "They wouldn't have known about them."

She rose from the bed and swayed a moment. Tom rushed forward to catch her, but she quickly waved him away.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just take me to them."

Tom nodded.

"This way," he said.

Rose tried to steady herself and calm her rapid heartbeat as she followed Tom out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All the way to the interrogation room, Rose felt as if she was going to faint. It couldn't be them. The Doctor said so himself. There was no way to reach her and she believed that. After all, it has been twenty years. Why now? Why did he come back now? Her emotions ran the gamut from joy to anger and back again. The butterflies in her stomach felt like they had little jet packs on and she had to fight to keep from throwing up.

"You said they were…hooded?" Rose managed to get out.

Tom looked back at her.

"Yes, they're both hooded," he said.

He frowned when he saw her pallid, sweaty face.

"Rose, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine," Rose said more to herself than to him.

She could tell he wasn't buying it, but at the moment she didn't care. She just wanted to get there without fainting so she could see for herself if he really had returned.

After a few minutes, but what seemed like ages to Rose, they reached the closed door of the interrogation room. Rose put her hand against the wall beside the door to steady herself waiting for Tom to go into the room. He gave her one last concerned look and then slowly opened the door. She froze when an all too familiar voice cried out,

"Rose? Is that you?"

Her legs felt like rubber and it was all she could do to walk over to the door and look inside. Once she was inside she felt like she was going to faint again when she saw the clothes the captives were wearing. She staggered back against the wall. Hearing the thud from that, the Doctor instantly turned his head in her direction.

"Rose? Rose, is that you?" he said.

Rose swallowed hard, afraid to speak to him. After twenty years and everything she had been through, how could she face him again? She was aware that Tom was staring at her with a mixture of concern and fear. She knew she looked bad with her pale, sweaty skin and wide eyes. Her breath quickened when the Doctor spoke again.

"Rose, are you in here?" he said angrily.

She could picture his enraged face beneath the hood when she heard him let out an angry yell.

"Damn it! I'm sick of playing games!" the Doctor yelled. "I let myself be led here because I was promised that I would see Rose Tyler and I want to see her now! What the hell have you done with her! I swear to Rassilon if you've hurt her in any way, I will break free and tear this place apart and find her that way!"

"Yeah, and I second that!" Jack yelled. "Bring Rose in here or you'll all be sorry!"

Tom fixed his terrified gaze on Rose.

"Rose, say something!" he mouthed to her.

Rose looked at the Doctor and tried to speak, but no words would come. She looked back at Tom. By now, several other people were gathered behind him, drawn to the room by the Doctor's screaming. All of them were staring at her in confusion.

"Rose."

Rose turned her head back to the Doctor when he heard him gently calling to her.

"My Rose," he began.

Rose felt her throat tighten at that.

"If you are in here and they are preventing you from speaking, then please know that I will find a way to rescue you from them. I won't let them hurt you anymore, Rose, I swear that to you."

"And I swear it also, Rose," Jack added. "We're here and we'll get you out of this."

Rose felt tears springing to her eyes. She turned her head to avoid the other fighters who were now looking at her with curiosity since they had never seen her cry before. She jerked her head back around when Tom laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Rose," he whispered in her ear. "Are they your friends?"

Somehow, Rose found the strength to nod.

"Then, what do you want us to do?" Tom whispered.

"You can start by taking off our hoods," the Doctor said angrily. "If you remember I told you I have excellent hearing and I know you're talking to Rose, now let me see her, damn it, before I break through these straps and strangle you with them!"

Tom gave Rose a questioning look. Rose nodded.

"Do it," she said in a barely audible voice." T…take the hoods off."

Rose gripped the wall behind her as Tom walked over behind the two captives. He glanced at Rose for a moment and then with a flourish pulled off the hoods. Both the Doctor and Jack blinked for a moment, trying to adjust to the bright light and then looked around the room searching for Rose. Twice the Doctor looked at Rose and looked away, not recognizing her, and then suddenly it hit him and he turned his head looking at her with shock and disbelief on his face.

"Rose?" he said to her.

She swallowed hard when she saw the horrified looks on their faces.

"Rose, what's happened to you?" the Doctor said softly.

She could tell from his anguished look that he was staring at the scar on the side of her face. Her eyes went from him to Jack who looked as white as a ghost.

"This can't be the right universe," she heard him murmur. "This can't be our Rose."

The Doctor stared at Rose who was still pressed up against the wall. He finally managed to pull his gaze away from her and fixed his eyes on Tom.

"Is she allowed to speak to me?" he said to him with barely contained rage.

Tom nodded.

"Yes, she's perfectly free to speak to you. Despite what you think, we are not holding her hostage here. Rose is our leader," he said.

Rose saw their shocked looks and they both turned their eyes back to her.

"Rose, what's going on? What's happened here? Who are these lizard people? What do they want?" the Doctor said. "Where's Jackie and Pete and Mickey and Jackie's child? Where is your family?"

He paused and stared at Rose who was still struggling to speak.

"Rose," the Doctor said gently. "Come to me. Release me and let me hold you, please. I'm here, Rose, Jack and I are finally here, please let us go or have someone let us go. We're not a threat, Rose, please tell them that!"

Rose finally steadied herself enough to speak.

"You…you have to go." She said in a shaky voice.

The Doctor stared at her in disbelief.

"What?" he said.

Rose swallowed hard.

"Just go," she said, her voice slightly stronger now. "Just…go back to the other universe. Take Jack and go."

She squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the anguished look in the Doctor's eyes.

"Rose, no," he said in a soft voice. "No, Rose, don't do this. Don't turn me away. Not after I finally found a way to get to you."

He looked at Tom with a desperate look in his eyes.

"Please, let me go, let me go to her. Let me hold her." He begged.

He looked back at her.

"My angel, please," he said in a pitiful voice. "I love…"

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Rose screamed as she slammed her hands over her ears. "JUST GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The Doctor and Jack watched, tears streaming down their faces, as Rose tore through the crowd at the door and half ran, half stumbled down the corridor back to her room. She wept uncontrollably and covered her ears trying not to hear the Doctor's anguished voice screaming out her name.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Rose lay on her camp bed weeping softly to herself. She couldn't believe she had just done that in front of the other fighters. She prided herself on keeping control and maintaining her emotions at all times, but the sight of him…the sight of them sitting there made her more terrified than she had been in years. She couldn't quite understand why she was so scared of seeing the Doctor and Jack. Was it because she had changed so much in twenty years or was it because she didn't want to get too close to them again because they might end up dead like Ben and her family. Whatever the reason was, she only knew that she wanted them gone from her life.

She turned against the wall and brought her thin cotton blanket up to her chin trying to find a bit of comfort. The temptation to run out of the room and into his arms was overwhelming but she fought at it with every fiber of her being. She wouldn't risk it, no matter how much she yearned for his touch. It was better for everyone if he and Jack just went back home and forgot about her. After everything that had happened, they could never go back to the way it was before. He deserved to find someone who wasn't carrying ten tons of baggage behind her, not when he had enough baggage of his own.

Sobbing quietly, she shut her eyes and finally after about twenty minutes, she fell into a restless sleep filled with uneasy visions of the Doctor being killed in front of her eyes.

When she finally woke, it was completely dark in the room. She stared at the wall trying to figure out how long she had slept. It had to be several hours at least since it had been around ten in the morning when she had gone to the interrogation room. She bit her lip as the image of the Doctor came flooding back into her mind. She figured that he and Jack had left by now. She swallowed hard. If they had, it was all for the best, they didn't need to be burdened with her now.

She swung her legs over the camp bed and sat up. She felt at the end of the cot for the electric lantern that served as her lamp. She found the dial and turned it on illuminating the room with a pale, white light. Wrapping the blanket around her, she sighed deeply and wiped the tearstains from her cheeks. As she sat there, trying to wake up, she didn't notice a hand reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"Rose."

Rose gasped and out of pure reflex, her hand dove under her pillow and she grabbed her knife. She held it up to her body defensively and that's when she saw that the Doctor was sitting beside the camp bed on a chair staring at her with wide eyed shock. Rose let out a long sigh and put her head in her hand as she dropped the knife onto the camp bed.

"I thought I told you to go." She said staring down at the floor.

He heard the Doctor let out a ragged sigh and he swallowed hard.

"Rose. Please listen to me," he said in a dull, tired voice.

Rose brought both hands up to her face.

"God, why won't you just go?" she murmured into her hands.

She sighed angrily when she felt the Doctor move the knife and sit down beside her on the camp bed. She brought her hands down and glared at him.

"Damn it, Doctor,"

"Rose, just listen!" the Doctor yelled at her. "I'll go eventually just like you want me to, but not before Jack and I help to sort this mess out and rid the planet of the Kajorans. I'm not leaving this Earth like this and Jack isn't either. Not when we can help!"

"Doctor, just go, we can handle things just fine without you, alright?"

"Oh really, that's not what your mates say."

"They aren't my mates."

"Yeah, I heard that too," the Doctor replied. "Jack and I just had a nice, long chat with the rest of the fighters and they've filled me in on what's happened up till now and…"

He put a hand on her shoulder.

"They've told me what they know about you." He said.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut when she felt the Doctor's fingers lightly brushing over what remained of her hair. His fingers reached the spot where the prisoner tat was hidden and they stopped there.

"I'm sorry, Rose, I'm so sorry for not getting back to you sooner," he whispered. "Please forgive me."

"Doctor, please don't do this," Rose whispered.

"My Rose," she heard him whisper. "What have they done to you? What have those bastards done?"

She tried not to cry as she felt his fingers leave her hair. Then she felt him touching the top of her scar. She turned her head away when she felt him start to trace it down to her cheek and he took his hand away.

"Where is your family, Rose?" the Doctor asked gently. "What happened to them?"

Rose swallowed hard.

"They're…dead," she said in a shaky voice.

She heard the Doctor let out a ragged sob and she knew he was blaming himself now for what had happened. She should have known this would happen. The Doctor wouldn't leave London and the rest of the world under the control of the Kajorans and neither would Jack. He was taking it upon himself to do something about it even though it wasn't his world to protect. She was a fool to think he would just get back in his TARDIS and go.

The Doctor must have read her thoughts because she heard him say,

"I know you don't want me here, Rose."

He paused and she heard him take a ragged breath that almost shattered her heart in two. She wanted to turn and embrace him, but she couldn't. It was better if they were apart now. She wasn't good enough to be with him anymore. He deserved better. The Doctor swallowed hard and when he spoke, it was with a shaky voice and Rose knew he was trying not to lose control of his emotions, which tore at her heart even more.

"I…I won't stay where I'm not wanted," he said to her. "If…you don't want me anymore, then…I won't ask you to come back with me. But, I want to request that Jack and I be allowed to join the rebellion and fight with you. If…if I'm going to leave, I want to make sure that you and everyone else is safe."

Rose flinched when she felt his fingertips touch the spot where the tattoo was.

"I don't want anybody else to hurt you, Rose, ever again." He said in a barely audible whisper.

He swallowed hard.

"Please, just let us stay and help, Rose. Let us help and when the Earth is free of these…bastards, Jack and I will leave, I promise you that. Will you let us help?"

Rose wanted to turn and scream no to his face, wanted to scream at him to leave her alone and go away, but something within her stopped her from doing that. Instead, she felt herself nodding and heard the Doctor breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, my Rose," he whispered.

Rose flinched at hearing that. If only he knew what she had done, he wouldn't be so quick to call her that. If he knew what she had done, he wouldn't be so eager to help. He and Jack would get back in the TARDIS and get back over the void as fast as they could go. She stiffened when she felt the Doctor's hand settle on her back. She figured he must have felt her tension because he immediately took his hand away. A part of Rose wanted to scream at him to put his hand back, but she couldn't bring herself to do that.

"Rose?"

Rose swallowed hard. His voice sounded so good to her. So soft and gentle. She hadn't heard anyone speaking to her like that in years. Why was he doing this to her? Didn't he know how much torment she was in right now? Why wouldn't he just go away and leave her here? It took all her strength just to whisper out "What?" to him.

"I…I know now that it's over between us…"

He trailed off and Rose heard her own voice screaming at her inside her mind. Screaming at her to stop him from saying what he was about to say, but she couldn't do it; she had to let him go for both their sakes. It was better this way. He deserved so much better than a broken, bitter, angry bitch. He deserved someone who could give him the love and care he needed. She was too far gone now, it was better that she die and let him move on with his life. As long as she lived, he would never get over her. She had to sacrifice herself to save him from making a huge mistake.

She waited for him to continue with his thought, but all she could hear was his ragged breathing. For a moment, she thought that was all he was going to say to her, but then she felt his hands cupping her face and he slowly turned her head towards his.

"Rose, open your eyes and look at me, please."

Rose squeezed her eyes shut not wanting to see what she was doing to him.

"Please, Rose, please look at me," the Doctor begged.

Rose took a deep breath and tried to steel herself as she forced herself to open her eyes and see him. But once she got a good look at his face, the tears running down his cheeks, the heartbroken look in his eyes, his eyes that held so much pain and sorrow, her resolve shattered and she felt the tears flow unchecked down her face. Ashamed that she was doing this in front of him, she tried to turn her head away, but he murmured out a no and gently pulled her face back. Rose tried to close her eyes again but the Doctor pleaded with her to look at him and she found the strength to look back at his anguished gaze. The Doctor murmured out a thank you and then swallowed again trying to keep his composure.

"I…I was saying, that,"

He took another deep breath.

"I was saying that if you no longer want to be with me, I…wanted to ask…if we could still be friends," he said. "Even if you don't want to…travel with me anymore, I want to leave…on good terms."

He took another deep breath.

"I…I don't know everything that has happened to you. I only know what Tom and the others have told me, but I want you to know that you are not alone, Rose. Jack and I still care about you and we want to be here for you if you need us, for…however long that might be."

His hand went to her scar and he traced his finger down it.

"I want…to be your friend…and I will listen if you want to talk to me. It's your choice of course, but I wish you would tell me, Rose, so you can begin to heal from all this."

Rose lowered her eyes when he brought his head closer to hers.

"I know what's it like to go through something horrendous and be left all alone with no one to talk to. You know what happened to me, Rose."

He swallowed.

"I know what it's like to lose all your family and friends and be the only one left alive. I know what it's like to go through life with your soul ripped apart feeling like you'll never be happy again, like there's nothing to live for."

He sighed deeply.

"You and I had a lot in common which is why I loved traveling with you, but now…"

He took another deep breath.

"Now," he said in a shaky voice. "Now, unfortunately, you and I have something in common that I wish we didn't. You and I are survivors of unspeakable tragedies that have scarred us both to the very core of our being. We've both had to do things that no one should ever have to do."

He cupped her face in his hands and came close so he could look into her eyes.

"I want to see, Rose," he said to her. "I want to see inside your mind and see what they did to you. I want to know the pain and torment you went through. I want to help you through this, Rose. I know that look in your eyes, the lost, lonely, helpless look because I had the same look after Gallifrey was destroyed. Let me help you, please. Let me see your memories."

"No! No…" Rose said jerked her head away.

She felt him put his hand on her cheek.

"I won't then, Rose. I won't intrude where I'm not wanted," he said softly. "But, I hope you will change your mind and let me help you. I can help you, Rose; I can help you so much if you'll only let me. Even if you no longer love me, I still love you and I always will. I don't want to see you live the rest of your life in torment and pain feeling like you can't let go of everything that has happened because it wouldn't be right to be happy again and have love in your life when so many others have died or gone insane because of the Kajorans. So I just want to leave an open invitation for you to come and talk to me or Jack whenever you need to. Because, you know, Jack has been through a couple of wars too, so he also knows what it's like to lose people and see horrifying things. You don't have to shoulder your burden alone, Rose, you don't have to be scared anymore. Even if no one else in this building gives a damn whether you live or die, we do, and we want to make sure that you're alright, both physically and mentally before we leave. Jack wanted to come in here and sit with you too, but I figured it would be upsetting enough for me to be in here, especially after your reaction this morning. But, I just had to come and talk to you and tell you this so you would know, Rose. You…are…not…alone, alright?"

He swallowed.

"And…you don't have to worry about going into the mothership by yourself, Jack and I will go with-"

"No!" Rose said looking at him. "I want to go alone!"

"Rose, it's too dangerous to go by yourself! I haven't been here half a day and even I can tell you that. You need help!"

Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't you dare lecture me on going it alone!" she snarled at him. "I seem to recall you tried to ditch me twice in the past because you wanted to do everything yourself! If it's good enough for you, then it's good enough for me!"

The Doctor stared at her in silent disbelief.

"Rose, what's happened to you? You've changed so much." He murmured.

"What's wrong, don't like what you see?" she spat at him. "You don't like how the defender of the Earth turned out? You should be proud of me, Doctor; I'm being a brave little soldier and fighting evil just like you. I survived ten fucking years in a gold mine digging day in and day out while lizards and mind slaves beat the shit outta my back. It was hotter 'n hell down there. I watched a lot of people die of heat exhaustion, but not me, because I wasn't about to let them have the satisfaction of seeing me die. I wanted to live so I could get my revenge and kill them all. And before you go lecturing me on revenge, let me just remind you of your little vendetta against the Daleks. Once again, if it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me!"

"Rose, you can't think that way," the Doctor said seizing her arms. "Yes, I do have a grudge against the Daleks and I'm not saying you shouldn't be angry against the Kajorans for what they did to you. I'm not minimizing the torment you went through, but there is no shame in asking for help! It doesn't make you weak! You are not weak! You're right, I am proud of you! But you know what, at the same time, I'm not surprised in the least that you made it, because I know you, I know the strength that lies within you. But just because you have that strength doesn't mean you need to hold the world at arm's length and be a lone wolf! That is not the answer. You don't get better by pushing people away, you get worse!"

His face was inches from hers.

"Remember my last life, Rose? Remember how bitter I was when you first met me? I was exactly like you were. I was devastated after going through the Time War and being forced to destroy my people. When I look at you now, I see my ninth life staring right back! I felt like there was no one to turn to and if I just kept everyone at a distance then maybe I would feel better. But, you know what? I felt worse because being isolated made me feel even more depressed and hopeless and I wanted to end it all because what was the use in going on when I was the only one left?"

He cupped her face.

"But then, an angel entered my life and showed me that there was still light in the universe and happiness and joy if I knew where to look for it. She taught me to let go of all the anger and bitterness that was killing me inside and find a peace that I had not felt in years and when I regenerated, I brought that peace and joy along with me into this body. This precious angel helped me find my purpose in life again and now I want to help her find hers. I know you think you aren't good enough to be a part of my life anymore, but I felt the same way when I first met you and you still stayed with me. You helped me work through my pain and saved me from darkness and despair and I fell in love with you because you weren't willing to give up on me and now, Rose Tyler, I'm not willing to give up on you."

He stroked her cheek.

"Jack and I are staying to help, with or without your consent, because neither of us are going to stand by and let the human race become extinct here. But, just as I'm leaving you an open invitation to come and talk to me whenever you need to, I'm also leaving you an open invitation to come back with us when we leave. Whether you want to or not is entirely up to you. Neither Jack nor I will force you to go somewhere you don't want to, but I know he wants you to come with us and you know how I feel. I just want you to know that you have a choice, Rose. You always have a choice. Death is not the answer either. Killing yourself won't help anyone, least of all you. You have too much to give to the world to waste your life that way."

He sighed.

"Now, that I've said my peace, I will leave you alone if you want me to. But being alone is an option too, Rose. The moment you want to come and talk to Jack and me, we will be waiting with open arms. But, I want to ask you one more time, can Jack and I be your friends?"

Rose stared at the floor. She swallowed hard and nodded. She heard the Doctor breathe a sigh of relief.

"Then, that's all I want us to be at the moment," he said softly. "Just friends. And if at some point you want our friendship to become a relationship again, then that's fine, we can do that. But, at the moment, I'm content to just be your pal."

Rose looked at her left hand when he took it and gave it a squeeze.

"I want you to promise me one more thing. I want you to promise you won't go off by yourself and do something stupid that'll get you killed. We want to help you. I, Jack, and the other people here…at least the people I talked to, at any rate. Anyway, I want you to promise me that you won't go off alone and try to take on the Kajorans by yourself. Will you promise me that?"

Rose stared at the floor.

"I don't want you or Jack to get hurt." She said in a barely audible whisper.

"Yes, I understand that, Rose, but at the same time Jack and I don't want you to get hurt," the Doctor replied. "So, will you promise me and Jack that you won't run off without us?"

Rose swallowed.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Say it, Rose," the Doctor said.

"I…I promise," she said slowly.

She felt the Doctor give her hand another squeeze.

"I'm going to hold you to that," he said to her. "If I find you running off without me, I will be forced to tickle you until you can't breathe anymore!"

Rose cracked a slight smile at that. She felt the Doctor run his hand down the back of her head.

"Now, I'll go and leave you alone for awhile," he said gently. "Tom put us up in the spare room down the hall so if you want to come and be with us, we'll be there, okay? Just don't be afraid to come and speak to your best mates, we'll probably be bored out of our skulls…either that or Jack will be driving me to distraction with his smelly feet. Rassilon, Rose, I don't know what the man does to get his feet to smell like that, he must run through a pig sty every morning before he puts his shoes and socks on. It's a good thing I do have a respiratory bypass system because if I didn't, I would pass out from his noxious fumes. The man's tootsies need to be fumigated every ten seconds just so people can be around him. I-"

He paused and smiled when he heard soft laughter coming from Rose. He stared at her intently.

"Was that a laugh, Rose Tyler?" he asked.

Rose shook her head.

"That was a laugh."

Rose bit her lip and shook her head.

"You laughed."

He smiled when he noticed the smile on Rose's face widen a little. He hesitated a moment and then leaned over and gave her a feather-light kiss on the side of her head.

"You see, my angel, you can still have a laugh even when the whole world is falling down around you," he said.

He squeezed her knee.

"Goodnight, my wonderful, amazing, brave, powerful, beautiful, strong, lovely Rose, I'm so proud of you, I could pop."

He leaned in to her ear.

"Please come down to our room soon so you can get a whiff of Jack's foot odor, the man doesn't thinks he has a problem and I need someone to back me up," he whispered.

He grinned when Rose let out another brief giggle.

"There, I made you laugh again. God, I'm good," he said.

He gave her another feather-soft kiss and smiled at her before rising and walking out of the room. Rose watched him go for a moment before she lowered her head and thought over everything he had said to her.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Rose lay back on her camp bed and stared up at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts. She knew the Doctor was right about needing to heal, but at the same time how could she start to heal when there was still a war going on? What if she did start the healing process and something else happened? Worse still, what if she lost the Doctor and Jack? Even though she acted as if she could live without them, deep down inside she knew if she lost either one of them, she would never survive it.

As she lay there, she saw someone move past the door and turned her head just in time to see Jack walk by. She started to look back up at the ceiling when she saw Jack coming back the other way. She watched as he paused in front of her door and looked around in confusion as he scratched his head, then his eyes settled on her.

"Hey, Blondie, my bladder's filled to the brim," he said gesturing to his crotch. "Where can I get it drained?"

Rose blinked, completely thrown by the question.

"Um…turn…turn around and go down three doors and it's there on the left."

"Ah!" Jack said turning around. "Thanks, doll!"

He gave her a wink and walked away. Rose shook her head and looked back up at the ceiling. After a couple of minutes she heard the toilet flushing and Jack whistling as he walked back down the hall. He walked directly into her room and came over to the side of her camp bed. He leaned down and smiled.

"I and my empty bladder thank you," he said.

He patted her on the head, turned around and walked back out.

Rose raised her eyebrows as she stared at the door. Jack then leaned his head back in and looked at her.

"Oh! And just for the record, my feet do not stink and I do not walk through pig pens, unless of course you count the TARDIS since the Slob Lord can barely pick up after himself, then he has a valid point. But other than that, you shouldn't listen to him, Rose. The man's coo coo in the noggin!"

He leaned his head back out.

Rose stared at the door, utterly confused. A moment later, the Doctor walked in, completely incensed. He walked over to the edge of the camp bed and looked down at her.

"I am not coo coo in the noggin, Rose. I am perfectly sane, see?"

He pulled out his psychic paper and showed it to her.

"See, it says right here, the Doctor…perfectly sane."

"It says Jack's a baboon," Rose said.

The Doctor feigned shock and stared at the paper.

"It does? How did that happen? Coulda sworn it said I'm sane, but no matter," he said putting it in his pocket. "Anyway, my point is I'm sane, my TARDIS is spotless and Jack Harkness is a smelly footed baboon."

And without another word, he turned and walked out. Rose fought hard not to crack a smile at that. Then, a moment later, Jack walked in the room and walked up to her camp bed.

"I am not a baboon!" he said angrily.

He paused.

"I'm a chimpanzee," he said proudly.

He turned to walk out, but before he could reach the door, Rose finally burst out laughing. She stared at him in shock as he whooped and pumped his fist in the air.

"Yes! I made Rose Tyler laugh! The Doctor owes me five quid now!"

He grinned at her.

"Thanks, Blondie!" he said.

He walked back out. Rose stared at the door, shocked. All of this was because they were trying to get her to laugh? She felt tears coming to her eyes at the thought of them goofing around so they could put a smile on her face. She managed to get herself back under control and when no one else came to the door, she stared back up at the ceiling and became lost in her thoughts again.

Ten minutes later, she noticed someone walking into the room and turned to see the Doctor coming towards her with a stern look on his face. He came to the side of the camp bed and looked down at her.

"Open your mouth!" he said sternly.

Rose stared at him, confused.

"Open your mouth!" he repeated.

Rose opened her mouth. The Doctor smiled, reached into his pocket, pulled out the white bag, got out a piece of licorice, and popped it in her mouth.

"Okay you can close it now. Thanks so much for your cooperation!"

He turned and walked out. Rose hesitated a moment and then began to chew on it. As the taste of licorice flooded her mouth, tears came to her eyes and she began to weep when she realized that this was the first time in eleven years that she had tasted any sweets. As she cried softly, Jack came stomping into the room.

"Rose," he whined. "The Doctor won't give me any licorice. He promised I could have some and-"

He cut himself off when he heard her crying and instantly fell to his knees beside her.

"Rose, what's wrong?" he asked.

When Rose told him, Jack could barely contain his composure. He laid a hand on her head.

"Rose, please come in our room and be with us. You shouldn't be in here all alone. You've been alone for far too long. Come in the other room and be with your friends."

Rose hesitated.

"Please, Rose, I'm begging you," Jack said.

He breathed a sigh of relief and kissed her forehead when she finally nodded.

"Get your blanket and pillow and I'll carry your camp bed," he instructed as she sat up.

Rose grabbed the blanket and pillow and started to take the knife when Jack grabbed her hand.

"No, leave that here. You won't need it. The Doctor and I will look after you."

"But…"

"Rose, please, neither of us likes the idea of you having to sleep with a knife under your pillow, especially since you nearly stabbed the Doctor with it. No one will hurt you, Rose, I swear it. Now please leave it."

Rose nodded. She stood up and Jack squeezed her hand.

"Go ahead and go in the other room. I'll bring your bed in," he said.

Rose nodded and walked out. Jack watched her go and then with a look of disgust picked up the knife and threw it down on the table by the lantern.

The Doctor looked over and his face lit up when he saw Rose walking into the room carrying her pillow and blanket.

"Good," he said to her. "I'm glad you decided to come in here with us. You don't need to be in that room by yourself."

He patted the space beside him and smiled when she sat down. He studied her face.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently.

Rose nodded.

"Can I give you a friendly back rub?"

Rose nodded. The Doctor began to rub her back. As he did, he felt the raised areas that the whip had left and fought to control his anger. He silently vowed that he would make the Kajorans pay dearly for what they had done to her. As he rubbed, he noticed Rose trying hard not to cry.

"Go ahead and cry if you need to," he said. "We won't hold it against you."

Hearing that, Rose gently wept. The Doctor scooted closer and continued to rub her back as he remained silent.

He glanced over when Jack came in the room carrying the camp bed. Jack paused when he saw her crying. The Doctor smiled.

"It's alright. She just needed a good cleansing cry. I told her neither of us would hold it against her," he said.

Jack nodded. He sat up the camp bed next to the Doctor's bed and closed the door so no one would see Rose. He walked over to the Doctor, leaned into his ear, and whispered what Rose had told him about the licorice. The Doctor closed his eyes in anguish cursing the Kajorans under his breath. Jack sat down on his camp bed as the Doctor stopped the back rub, got out the bag of licorice and put it in Rose's hand.

"Take it, it's yours." He said gently.

Rose looked at the bag and the simple gesture made her cry all over again. The Doctor resumed rubbing her back while Jack came over and sat on her other side. Jack took her hand in his and held it while they let Rose release all her pent up emotions. Rose occasionally would try to murmur an apology, but they insisted that no apology was necessary.

After about a half hour, the crying subsided into quiet sobbing and the Doctor reached into his pocket, brought out his handkerchief and gave it to her. Rose murmured a thank you and wiped her eyes with it.

"Rose, if you wanna tell us anything, anything at all, then feel free to. You're safe here," the Doctor said.

He paused.

"Course when I say safe, I mean that you can tell us anything and we won't laugh or criticize or judge you. Now as for your physical safety, I can't guarantee that since the gigolo here might pounce on you at any minute."

Rose laughed through her sobs when she glanced over and saw the offended look on Jack's face.

"Excuse me, I'm not a gigolo," he said.

"The hell you aren't, you go after anything that moves. Men, women, aliens, cats, dogs, lorries."

They both grinned when Rose cracked up at that.

"It feels so good to hear her laugh," the Doctor said.

"Yes, it does," Jack agreed.

The Doctor rubbed her back.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Rose hesitated a moment.

"Do I have to?" she finally said.

"You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable doing," the Doctor assured her.

"I don't want to talk right now, I just want to sleep," she said.

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"Whatever you want, Rose, just know that Jack and I are here anytime you need us," he said.

Rose nodded.

"Now, why don't you sleep on this camp bed and I'll take yours so you're next to the wall, sound good?"

Rose nodded. The Doctor and Jack stood up and the Doctor moved her cot around in front so he was in front of the door. He smiled and thanked Rose when she handed him his pillow and blanket. She tried to give him back the bag, but he shook his head.

"No, please keep it."

He glanced at Jack.

"But if I were you, I'd give the gigolo a piece so he won't pounce on you."

"N'yuk, n'yuk," Jack said as Rose giggled.

She handed Jack a piece of licorice and he popped it in his mouth with a smile and a wink. She set the bag down on the table beside the lantern and arranged her bedding as Jack dimmed the lantern light. She lay down facing the door while the Doctor lay facing her.

"Goodnight, Rose," the Doctor said.

"Goodnight, Doctor."

"Goodnight, Rose," Jack said.

Rose paused for a moment.

"Goodnight gigolo baboon with smelly feet," she said.

The Doctor laughed as Jack's mouth fell open and he gave her a playful slap on the head.

"Just for that, I'm taking your licorice," he said.

The Doctor giggled when Rose grabbed the bag and stuffed it under her pillow. Jack winked at her and sighed as he closed his eyes. Rose glanced at the Doctor and saw him staring at her lovingly. She hesitated a moment and then slowly reached out her hand towards him. The Doctor smiled, took it, and gave it a gentle kiss.

"Sleep well, Rose, you have two guardian angels watching over you tonight," he said.

Jack smiled and nodded. The Doctor put Rose's hand near his chest and rubbed the back of it gently watching as Rose closed her eyes and finally went to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The Doctor stared quietly at Rose as she slept beside him. It had been a couple of hours since she had closed her eyes and now she and Jack were both sound asleep. The Doctor still held her hand hoping that subconsciously she could feel his hand and be comforted by it. His Rose had been through so much; the Doctor wondered how long it had been since she had a good night's sleep. Looking at her now, even though she no longer had her shoulder length blonde hair and her face was scarred and haggard, she still looked beautiful to him, nothing in his eyes could ever change that. He was so proud of her. She had survived so much, too much, and even though she had a lot of anger and hurt within her, she still found the strength to carry on. He felt confident that even if, Rassilon forbid, she decided not to go back with him, she would still be able to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and carry on. He loved her and he would never stop loving her until the day he died.

He let out a sad sigh when he noticed her brow furrowing in her sleep. He ached knowing that bad dreams were starting to threaten her peace. He hated not being able to protect her from her own mind. He remembered the nightmares he had suffered in his ninth incarnation after the destruction of Gallifrey. The horrible images of his people burning alive, screaming in agony as they cursed his name were still fresh in his memory. He had dreaded going to sleep back then and had put it off for as long as he could until he could no longer keep his eyes open. Then when he woke up, his body and nightclothes were always drenched with sweat. He had nearly been driven mad by those visions and the survivor's guilt that he carried with him for years. By the time Rose came along, he had managed to get past a great deal of that. If she had met him directly after the Time War, he was certain she would have been terrified of him. The way he was then and the way he was now was like Jekyll and Hyde. He knew that there was still a little bit of insanity left within him that sprung up from time to time, but it was nothing compared to the way he acted before.

That was why he hoped that Rose would eventually open up to him and let him help her. He had been in her position before and he was the only one who could truly help her heal and reach a place where she could be at peace with her past. He never imagined that all the torment he had gone through and all the pain he suffered would serve a purpose and that he could use what he learned to heal the woman he loved more than life itself. Whatever she chose to do with her life and their relationship, he wanted to make sure that she was safe and she would never have to worry about being enslaved by anyone again. He hoped that Rose would allow him to do that and not push him and Jack away thinking that she could do everything herself. Above all, he hoped that she wouldn't break her promise to him and go off on her own. The thought of her being recaptured and enslaved or killed was almost too much for him to bear.

He sighed when he noticed her brow furrow again.

"Oh Rose," he whispered. "I wish I was with you in your dreams right now so I could chase away the monsters in your mind."

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Rose shuddered with fear as she walked through the darkened gold mine. She was clad only in her loincloth, her head was shaved, and the whip marks were still fresh on her back. She could hear the tormented screams from the other slaves and the crack of the whip as the mind slaves tortured and punished them. As she turned a corner, she saw a male slave kneeling on the ground being whipped unmercifully by a mind slave while a Kajoran foreman stood by and watched him impassively. Rose quickly ducked back into the shadows before they saw her and stood watching this poor soul being punished for some offense. As she watched this man being beaten, she felt like there was something weird about the whole scene. It took her a moment to realize that the screams she was hearing were coming from some other place in the mine. The man before her made no noise as he silently bore his punishment. Rose watched silently, admiring his courage. Not many people could keep silent like this while they were being whipped and beaten.

Finally, the Kajoran foreman yelled at the mind slave to stop and he immediately lowered the whip and walked away. The Kajoran came over to the man and stared down at him with a disdainful look on his face before he turned and walked away. Rose stared at him. He was still on his knees with his back to her. The blood from the lash marks trickled down his back and his shaved and tattooed head glistened in the torchlight from the sweat that ran down it. The man did nothing, didn't move or make a sound and Rose wondered briefly if he was dead. She hesitated a moment and then slowly walked towards him. As she neared, she could see that he was breathing heavily and she could tell that he was in a great deal of pain. She wondered if this was why he hadn't moved yet and she walked around him so she could offer him some help if he needed it.

When she got around to the front, she froze. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw the man's face. Jack raised his head to her and stared back at her with a defeated look on his face. Rose backed away as he stared at her with a sad, hopeless expression. She spun around wanting to get away from him as fast as she could and gasped when she saw the Doctor behind her. He too was clad only in a loincloth with a shaved and tattooed head. To her horror, she saw he also had an implant scar on his temple and knew that he had been made into a mind slave. She glanced down at the whip in his hand and looked back up at his dull, lifeless eyes that showed no mercy or compassion in them. She tried to run away from him, but he grabbed her and threw her hard against the rock wall, knocking the breath out of her. Her eyes widened in terror when his hand closed around her throat. As Rose fought to take air into her lungs, she saw the Kajoran foreman step out of the shadows beside Jack and watch her anguish with amusement. Rose struggled against the Doctor, trying to scream for help, but the Time Lord had an iron grip on her windpipe. She silently pleaded with her eyes for him to stop, but his eyes were unseeing as he mindlessly obeyed his master's orders to execute her.

As Rose felt her life slipping away, she began to scream inside her mind, scream for anyone to take pity on her and help her as the man she loved took her life. The internal screaming became louder and louder until finally she let out one final scream as she expired and then…she woke up.

The first thing Rose saw when she opened her eyes was the Doctor standing over her. Panicking, she flailed and cried out as the Doctor put his arms around her and held her tight.

"Rose, it's me, wake up," he yelled in her ear.

Hearing his voice, Rose's mind finally registered that she was safe and he wasn't under the Kajoran's control. Weeping, she stopped fighting him as he held her tight against him. She buried her face in his neck while he rubbed her back and reassured her that she was safe.

"Doctor," she wailed. "Please take Jack and go, get away from here before it's too late."

"Shhh, Rose, it's alright," the Doctor soothed. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Please, go, please don't stay here."

The Doctor held her tighter.

"No, my angel, I won't leave you, not like this," he whispered in her ear. "I won't let you face the darkness alone and neither will Jack."

Rose cried harder and the Doctor pressed his face to her head as Jack sat down beside her and rubbed her back.

"Oh Rose, my poor Rose," the Doctor murmured in her ear. "It's alright, I'm here. Shhhh, no one will hurt you now."

"Please go, please," Rose begged him. "Please don't worry about me, just go."

"Never," the Doctor murmured. "I won't go until you're alright, Rose, and right now, you are far from alright."

The Doctor glanced at Jack who was trying hard not to lose it as they listened to her begging them to leave her alone and go back to the other universe.

"Rose," the Doctor said gently. "Whatever you saw in your nightmare is just that, a nightmare. Nothing will happen to you or to us, I promise."

He gently turned her face to his so he could look into her eyes. Rose stared back at him and felt so conflicted. One part of her wanted to shove him away and scream out that she hated him so he would leave, but she could never do that to him. She could never be selfish and break his hearts like that, but at the same time how could she live with herself if something did happen to him and Jack? It was because of her that they had risked crossing over the void and if they died or ended up enslaved, it would be her fault because she had been too weak-minded to put her foot down and make them go back. She knew that they were both worried sick about her which meant that neither one would keep her out of their sight for long. As she looked into the Doctor's eyes that were filled with anguish and worry, she wanted to scream out that he was in danger, that both of them were in danger if they stayed with her, but she knew they would never listen. She knew they didn't care about their own safety as much as they cared about hers and they would both sacrifice their own lives to save hers if necessary. The thought of them dying for her made her cry harder and she felt the Doctor's arms tighten around her. Through her tears, she could see his expression and she could tell he wanted to kiss her and caress her all over just like he used to do whenever she had been terrified, but he was holding back because at the moment they were only "friends".

She looked at his lips and longed to taste them, longed to feel them all over her skin, but no matter how much she wanted things to go back to the way they were, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was terrified of not only losing him to the Kajorans, but also losing him through some other calamity. She hadn't lied to Ben when she told him she had died that day at Torchwood. It had nearly ripped her soul to pieces when the breech closed and left her stranded a universe away. She couldn't go through something like that again. For both their sakes, she had to discourage him from reestablishing their relationship. She would allow them to be friends as long as they were here because she knew that she couldn't shun him completely, not when he was right here. Once he and Jack were back over the void, then it would be a different matter, but for the moment, she welcomed this little bit of contact just to soothe her tormented soul. And she had to admit having his arms around her felt so good. Knowing that he and Jack were with her, soothing her, calmed the terror she felt inside and she thanked God that at least for the moment they were a part of her life again. She only hoped that nothing would happen to them while they were here, because if her dream did become a reality, she knew she would never forgive herself.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

After about an hour, the Doctor managed to get Rose calmed down enough that she could go back to sleep. But after witnessing her terrified outburst, Jack wasn't able to relax enough to go back to sleep and so he and the Doctor kept vigil over her and talked softly to one another.

"I don't care what Rose says, Doc, we gotta take her back with us," Jack said softly.

"I agree with you, Jack, but Rose is a grown woman. We can't point a gun at her head and force her into the TARDIS."

"Yes, but look at her, she's not thinking straight. She may think she has a grip on reality but she's just barely holding on. She needs us. Even if we straighten out everything here, what does she have to go back to? Her whole family is dead, these people here aren't really that friendly towards her and she's has ten years of hell to sort out. Who's to say our leaving won't push her over the edge. The way she was holding you, Doc, it was like she was afraid you would vanish if she didn't cling to you. I don't know what she dreamt, but I have a feeling we were involved."

The Doctor nodded.

"So do I and I would love to get in there and take a look at her memories, but I'm not about to strap her to a chair and force myself in there."

"Well, why don't you take a peek right now while she's sleeping?" Jack asked.

The Doctor gave him a shocked look, but he had to admit the thought had occurred to him too. He was just so concerned about Rose's sanity that he was even willing to intrude upon her privacy to see her memories. The Doctor looked at Rose. If he did it carefully, she probably wouldn't even know it had happened. But, seeing her sleeping beside him, how trusting she was that he wouldn't do anything to her while she was asleep, he just couldn't violate that trust not even for the sake of satisfying his curiosity. She trusted him enough now to come and lay beside him, he wasn't about to shatter that trust especially since it was so fragile at the moment. He shook his head.

"No, Rose must tell me whenever she feels ready to; if and when that day comes I will do it, but not before."

Jack sighed.

"I just hope you know what you're doing, Doc, I have a feeling that now is not the time to be polite when it comes to her and her wellbeing."

The Doctor swallowed hard.

"I trust Rose, Jack, I always have and I always will. She won't do anything stupid."

Jack stared at him for a moment wondering whom it was he was really trying to convince. He sighed softly. He and the Doctor frequently butted heads over things like this. In the Doctor's mind, he had his way of doing things and Jack had his way, which he sometimes referred to as his Torchwood way, which Jack figured meant his ways were more ruthless and intrusive than what the Doctor was used to. It was a sore issue left over from when he had found the Doctor and had reluctantly revealed to him that he worked for Torchwood. Since then, the Doctor frequently made numerous comparisons between the way he handled things and the way he and his team handled things, the Doctor's way being more superior of course. It used to irritate Jack to no end, but now he just ignored it, chalking it up to the Doctor's ego needing to toot its own horn from time to time. It wasn't that Jack didn't care about Rose, he loved her dearly and didn't want to see her hurt or violated in any way. But if inconveniencing her and pissing her off meant that they could finally get to the bottom of what had really happened to her and begin to help her heal, then he was more than willing to put up with her being angry at him for awhile.

Nor did he trust her as completely as the Doctor did, especially since he could tell she wasn't dealing with a full deck at the moment. The Doctor saw Rose only through rose-colored glasses. In his eyes, she could do almost no wrong and he couldn't imagine her doing anything to deliberately break his hearts. His love for her kept him from seeing the whole truth, which was she was liable to do something reckless at any moment that could get her and them and the other members of the resistance hurt or killed. It warmed his heart to know that he was head over heels in love with someone especially since he knew he did have a tormented past, but if it were Ianto lying here, he would do anything and everything he could to figure out a way to save him from himself, including invading his memories. He glanced at the Doctor who was lying quietly on his side staring at Rose with utter love and devotion and he let out a sad sigh knowing that his friend was only setting himself up for heartbreak now. But, he knew no matter how long or how loud he screamed at him to wake up and smell the coffee, he wouldn't listen to him, so he did the only thing he could do, he shut his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

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Tom rose early the next morning and stretched his back as he prepared to start another day. He hoped today would be a little saner than last night. Not only had he watched Rose freak out in front of him and half the members of the resistance, but also now her two friends were joining up with them. He still didn't trust them completely. He had never seen either one of them before and while he and everyone else he knew had some scars or disfigurements or at the very least, a haunted look in their faces, these two had none of these. The Kajorans weren't just in England anymore, the invasion was worldwide, so not many people on Earth had been left unaffected. Just the fact that they had come out of nowhere, looking as if nothing had happened to them made him think that they were spies planted by the Kajorans to flush them out. After Rose's reaction to them, he had wanted to get rid of them, but the Doctor had managed to convince the others to give him and Jack a chance and reluctantly he agreed, reserving his judgment for the moment. He only hoped that they hadn't made a big mistake in doing this. Rose's friends or not, they could have been kidnapped and brainwashed by the Kajorans. However, their numbers were dwindling and the others weren't about to turn down an offer of help from them and he felt the same way when it came down to it.

He finished dressing and stepped out of his room on his way to get Rose's friends. Each morning, they had a briefing and if these men were going to help, then they needed to be in on it. He turned the corner and walked to their door. He hesitated a moment and then knocked.

"Come in," the Doctor said.

Tom opened the door and froze. The two men were sitting on their cots looking at him and sitting on the cot against the wall was Rose. Tom stared at her in disbelief. Some of the resistance members shared rooms because of the limited space and Jenny even shared a room with her boyfriend, Colin, but Rose had always refused to room with anyone, wanting to be by herself. So the sight of her sitting there surrounded by the two men nearly floored him. And even more amazing she seemed perfectly fine with it. The one sitting across from her had tried to tell her yesterday that he loved her before she freaked and ran out, so he assumed that perhaps he was an old boyfriend, and possibly the other guy was another old boyfriend or just a close friend. Whoever they were, Rose wasn't objecting to their presence which lowered Tom's guard a bit more. He knew Rose was a shrewd judge of character and he was sure if there had been any changes in her friends' behavior she would have seen it. Still, he couldn't let go of his suspicion completely, not till he had absolute, overwhelming proof that they were not a threat.

"You come to tell us about the briefing?" Rose asked him.

"Uh, yeah, I was actually coming to tell your friends since they didn't know about it, but, yeah, that's the reason I knocked."

Rose nodded.

"We'll be there in a minute," she said.

Tom nodded. As he closed the door, he heard the one called the Doctor ask her what he meant and Rose starting to explain it to him. He finished closing the door and headed towards the meeting room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone had finished assembling in the meeting room by the time Tom had gotten there. He nodded a good morning to them and sat down beside Toby.

"Rose, coming?" he muttered to him.

"Yeah, and her two friends are coming too," he replied.

"Good, if they're gonna help out, they need to jump right in as soon as possible."

Tom wondered if he should tell him about Rose being in the room with her friends. He decided to wait until later; right now there were more important things.

After a few minutes, the door opened and everyone stared at Rose as she entered with the Doctor and Jack flanking her. They stared at the Doctor's hand on Rose's shoulder and the closeness of the two men in relation to her and their eyes went to Rose's face. They stared at her in disbelief when they noticed she didn't seem to mind the close contact. Any other fighter who had tried to do that had been screamed at and bitched out by her. Even more surprising, she sat down at the head of the table and the two men sat down next to her facing each other. Tom noticed them frowning in confusion when they noticed the rest of the fighters were sitting and standing far away from her.

"Um, you can sit next to Jack and I," the Doctor said. "We don't bite."

No one moved and the Doctor stared at them before it suddenly seemed to dawn on him why they hadn't and he looked at Rose who looked down at the table. He looked at Tom quizzically and he nodded in confirmation. The Doctor sighed softly and folded his arms on the table waiting for the meeting to get underway.

"Um, perhaps since we have two new members here, introductions are in order. They know me and Louise and Toby and Jenny and of course, Rose, but how about the rest of you introduce yourselves?"

A twenty-something young man with short dark hair pointed to himself.

"Name's Brad." He said.

A woman with long, blonde hair next to him nodded.

"Patricia."

A man with short, ginger hair next to her smiled at them.

"Colin," he said.

Another woman who had her raven hair cut in a bob smiled.

"Amber, it's nice to meet you," she said.

And finally a man who had his head shaved nodded at them.

"Peter," he said.

"Jack Harkness," Jack said nodding.

"I'm the Doctor."

Tom looked at Toby.

"Doctor who?" Tom said.

"Just the Doctor," The Doctor, Jack, and Rose said in unison.

Tom glanced at the others and looked at the Doctor.

"Alias?" he asked him.

"No, that's just my name," he replied.

Rose sighed when she noticed their confusion.

"Just get on with the meeting," she said to them.

"Well, we explained to you two yesterday a little bit of what has been going on since this began and as you can see there aren't very many of us. There are a couple more who are out on various missions and couldn't make it back for the briefing, but right now, our grand total without you two is fifteen and night before last we lost another one, good fighter named Ben."

The Doctor and Jack jerked their heads around when they heard Rose suck in her breath. Tom and the other fighters watched as the Doctor took her hand and gave it a squeeze. Everyone looked at Tom and he gave them a pointed look. They all looked back at Rose and noticed that the Doctor was still holding her hand. Rose glared at Tom when he stared a bit too long and he cleared his throat.

"Anyway, as I was saying, our numbers are dwindling so it's good that you two came along,"

"Trust me, you couldn't make these two leave now, if you tried," Rose muttered.

Tom frowned as the Doctor and Jack snickered at that. They quickly stopped and looked expectantly at Tom. He glanced at Toby and took the small stack of papers that he handed to him.

"Night before last, Rose and Ben conducted a raid on a slave processing center about a mile out of the city. That's…how we lost Ben," he said softly.

He handed the Doctor the stack of papers. The Doctor reached into his pocket for his glasses, put them on and spread the documents out so Jack could see them. The Doctor examined the papers for a moment and looked at Tom.

"This is the layout for this slave processing center?" he asked him pointing to a schematic.

"Yes," Tom replied.

The Doctor frowned as he looked at it.

"This place is huge," he said.

He looked at Rose.

"You only went in with one other person?" he asked in disbelief.

"There are sophisticated alarm systems all around the perimeter, it's tricky to get through them so we only take two people at most when we do a raid," Rose explained. "Not to mention we don't have that many people to begin with."

"How many Kajorans are in these processing centers?" the Doctor asked.

"Depends, usually twenty to twenty five, all armed with blasters," Tom said.

The Doctor's eyes bugged out.

"You took on twenty five of them with just one other person?" he said to Rose.

Everyone in the room flinched expecting Rose to jump down his throat for questioning her like that, instead to their surprise she began to stutter out an answer.

"We…we can't take that many fighters inside, Doctor," she said.

"Yes, but can't you find a way to take more than two? Rose, that's twelve and thirteen apiece, that's too much!"

"Doctor, we have submachine guns that can fire off multiple shots and…"

Tom watched as she trailed off when she saw the shocked looks on her friend's faces. She quickly recovered and glared at him.

"This is a rebellion, Doctor, not a bleedin' tea party! I'm sorry I can't finesse my way inside the building like you can and have to resort to gunning down a bunch of lizards. The bastards deserve it, alright?"

She looked him in the eyes daring him to say something back to her. The Doctor sighed angrily and looked back at the schematic while Rose rolled her eyes and focused her attention on Tom.

"Go on," she said to him when he remained silent.

"Um, anyway, after that happened, we picked up some chatter from the Kajorans and they have a bounty on Rose's head now."

The Doctor gave Rose a pointed look. Rose ignored him.

"Um," Tom continued when the Doctor glanced at Jack and looked back at him." They're sending for bounty hunters to find her and that's who we thought you two were since we heard you discussing Rose."

The Doctor glanced at Jack who groaned softly. He looked back at Tom.

"How many bounty hunters?" he asked him.

"We're not sure. They didn't say. We think they're just issuing a general call for some and will hire whoever shows up."

He paused a moment.

"When you two showed up, you…came out of nowhere in a phone booth. I mean, one minute Louise and I were sitting there getting ready to go off duty and then we hear this weird sound and this phone booth just comes into view. How did you do that?"

"That's my ship, it's called a TARDIS," the Doctor explained.

Tom looked at the other fighters.

"Ship? You're from off world then?"

"Yes, very off world, in fact I'm off universe," he replied.

Tom stared at him.

"Off universe, what does that mean?"

"It means that I'm not from this universe. Jack and I crossed the voids between our reality and this one."

He gestured to Rose.

"She was originally from our reality as well until she got trapped here. Her and her mother and her ex-boyfriend ended up here."

"And…that's why you two came over?"

The Doctor smiled at Rose.

"Yes, I've been trying to get back to her ever since she was taken from us," he said looking at him. "I have been trying for five years to reach her after the gap between the realities closed. Finally another gap opened up and Jack and I came through."

"Five years?" Tom said. "You mean five out of the twenty years she's been here, you've been trying to get over."

"No, I mean five years after she was trapped; we found a way to get back. The gap that opened brought us twenty years on from that event so it's been that long for her, but only five years for me."

Rose sighed when she noticed everyone in the room was completely confused.

"The Doctor's ship is also a time machine," she explained. "He can travel in time which is why he was able to land twenty years in my future when it's only been five years for him."

Tom looked at the others.

"Time travel is possible then?" he said.

"Oh yeah," Jack replied. "Very possible."

"Then, if you can travel in time, why don't you get back in your time machine and travel back to the time just after Rose was trapped here?"

"Because Jack and I are part of established events now," he said. "We can't go back in time and possibly muck something up that would create a paradox for us. We have to see this thing through, for better, or for worse."

Tom sighed.

"So, you can't travel back and stop the Kajorans from gaining a foothold on the planet then?" he said.

"No, I can't, I'm sorry," the Doctor replied. "Believe me if I could do it, I would,"

He looked at Rose.

"Unfortunately, there are some things I can't change," he said.

Rose looked at the table as the Doctor gave her hand another squeeze and looked back.

"So, are you guys even human then?" Toby asked.

"I am, but he's not," Jack replied.

The fighters looked at the Doctor.

"I'm a Time Lord," he said. "Ever heard of them?"

The fighters looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I don't think Time Lords exist here," Rose said to him. "All the time I worked at Torchwood, I kept checking for any mention of them or Gallifrey and there's nothing in their databases."

She sighed.

"But, there was no mention of the Kajorans in the databases either," she said bitterly.

"I've never heard of them either, but that doesn't mean anything since there are a lot of species I've found in my travels that I didn't know existed," the Doctor said.

He sighed and looked at Rose.

"Just answer me this, Rose, was Harriet Jones the reason the Kajorans got a foothold here?"

Rose stared at him in shock.

"Um…not really, I mean, a lot of people were taken in by them, not just her," she said.

She paused a moment and then it sank in.

"Doctor, she isn't like the other Harriet Jones. She didn't blow a Kajoran spaceship out of the sky and piss them off. That's not why they invaded Earth."

"Well, that's good to know," the Doctor said.

Rose sighed.

"She did become a mind slave though like all the other world leaders and then she did help the Kajorans capture and enslave the population, but that was because she couldn't think for herself anymore," she said.

"Mind slaves…" Jack said to Tom. "Now how did they accomplish that? Because we dealt with someone who hypnotized people with satellites."

Tom shook his head.

"No, it's not hypnosis. They use implants that they insert into people's skulls. Here I'll show you."

He rose and left the room. A moment later, he returned and handed a small microchip to Jack.

"This is an implant we found when we raided one of the slave processing centers about three months back. We wanted to study it to see if we can find a way to reverse the effects of the enslavement, but none of us are that technically minded."

"Well, it's a good thing I showed up then," the Doctor said.

He took the chip from Jack and studied it intently. As he did, he noticed Rose moving out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and noticed she was shifting uneasily as she stared at the chip with a fearful look in her eyes.

"Rose, what's wrong?" the Doctor asked her.

Rose quickly composed herself and shook her head.

"It's nothing," she said quickly.

The Doctor looked at Jack who shrugged. He looked back at the chip.

"So, this is how they were able to gain control of Harriet Jones and the others?" he asked looking at Tom.

"Yes, and they also used them to gain control of some of the slaves they send to the mines. They put implants in some of the slaves and used them as guards and torturers so they don't have to work very hard."

Once again, the Doctor noticed Rose's discomfort at that, but he decided not to say anything for the moment.

"So, these mines are in Antarctica then?" the Doctor asked Tom, laying the chip on the table.

"Yes, the mines that we are aware of are, for all we know, they could be sending them off-world too," Toby replied.

"And those they don't enslave, they eat?" the Doctor asked.

Tom nodded.

"Yes, they have what are called the freezers which are huge buildings that house hundreds of humans. They freeze them until they are ready to be eaten. There are a few outside of London and every other country has at least one or two, plus we think they have one on their mothership as well."

The Doctor thought for a moment.

"When you say freeze, do you mean freeze as in kill them or freeze as put them in stasis," the Doctor asked Tom.

"Um, I believe they are put in stasis. Kajorans like fresh meat." Tom replied making a face.

The Doctor looked at Jack who smiled and nodded. He looked at Tom.

"If they are in stasis, then that means they can be revived," the Doctor said.

Rose's heart quickened at that. Her mum and little brother…if the Kajorans hadn't killed them yet, then maybe…

She quickly put that out of her mind. No use in getting her hopes up right now, not until they had proof they might be alive. The Doctor thought for a moment and looked at Tom.

The Kajorans that tried to capture us told us we were out of our designated area. Where are these designated areas?"

"The city was divided up into quadrants when the Kajorans took control," Tom said. "Every human is assigned to a quadrant and they aren't allowed to go out of the one they are assigned to without a pass, which as you might imagine doesn't get issued very often. The humans stay in their designated area until their fate is decided."

"Sounds kinda like the Jewish ghettos during the holocost," Jack said as the Doctor nodded.

The area you landed in is completely off limits to humans, which is why you were stopped and questioned," Tom continued. "I seriously doubt you would have been allowed to walk around unopposed even if you had produced an authentic looking pass."

"Do you have one?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, we have a couple that we managed to find in the processing centers, why?"

"We can modify them and use them to move through the quadrants," the Doctor said. "The people that you have right now are not enough, not with this invasion being world-wide. We need to get more people on our side and if we can convince those in the designated areas to join us, we will have more fighters and those fighters can convince others and so on and so on until the two sides are evenly matched."

We've tried to get others to join us whenever we raid the processing centers and some have, but most just want to get away from London, so we take them to a safe house and then we slowly move them out into the countryside where the Kajorans aren't as concentrated. That's how some of our fighters joined. Colin, Amber, and Brad were freed in a raid and joined us after we asked for volunteers. Others did too, but they've since been killed or recaptured."

He sighed.

"We're fighting a losing battle here, Doctor," he said.

"Which is why we need to convince people that resistance is the only way out of this mess," the Doctor replied. "I'm sure the Kajorans are making sure everyone is too afraid to resist them and it's admirable that you three were brave enough to turn and make a stand instead of running into the countryside, but it's not enough. We have to rally people to our cause, not just here, but worldwide. And if we free the ones from stasis, maybe we can get a lot of them to join too. The human race is nearing extinction here and it's not the time to be timid. The Kajorans will continue to pick people off until there is nothing left."

"Do you have a plan, Doctor?" Toby asked.

"One is in the works, but in the meantime, we need to start recruiting others. Is there any way you can get in touch with the people who are in the countryside and try to get more of them to join us?"

"Yes, we know where they're hiding and it might take a couple of days since we'll have to go on foot, but we can send a couple of people out to talk to them."

"Good," the Doctor said. "If you give me the passes to go by, I can make some up that you can use to get into the quadrants and talk to the people there and see if they'll join."

He looked at Jack and Rose.

"In the meantime, the three of us will put our heads together and see if we can come up with a way to deactivate the chips and get the prisoners out of stasis. I can also use my ship to land in Antarctica and start freeing the mineworkers there. My ship has plenty of room, so I'll be able to transport them back here and hopefully we can get some of them to join as well. Any fighters we can get right now will be great, but we need to concentrate on getting as many as possible so the resistance doesn't die before it becomes truly effective."

Tom and the other fighters stared at this stranger quietly. Tom glanced over at Rose who shrugged.

"Sounds a good a plan as any," she said to him.

Tom blinked. Once again, Rose was acting out of character. She was used to being in charge and didn't like it if someone tried to take control of the meetings, but here she was deferring to this man and not having any problem with it. Tom didn't know who this Time Lord was, but Rose seemed to calm down and act more human around him and anyone who got her to do that was okay in his book. He nodded and looked at the other fighters who also nodded.

"Alright, Doctor, we'll go with your plan then," he said.

The Doctor beamed.

"Excellent. In that case, I have just one thing to say, ALLONS-Y!"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Rose swallowed hard as she led the Doctor and Jack towards the hidden door that led out to the abandoned house they used as their headquarters. She wasn't looking forward to this. She had wanted to stay behind, but both the Doctor and Jack insisted on her coming with them and finally she agreed. She tried to appear calm on the outside, but inside her insides were churning. They were going back to the TARDIS now and she was terrified that once she got a look at it, her resolve to keep herself distant from the Doctor would shatter. She wondered if that was their true intention since she couldn't assist them in any real way. She wasn't blind, she could see in the Doctor's eyes that he was hoping that she would reconnect with him and resume their relationship. She knew that he knew that deep down she longed for him, which was why he hadn't left her side since last night.

It infuriated her because instead of finding the strength to push him away, she was allowing herself to fall under his influence. The Doctor was like a spider sitting patiently in the center of the web he had weaved while she, the foolish fly, kept nearing closer to it until finally she would fall into it and be ensnared forever. Thinking of the Doctor this way disturbed her since the image suggested he was influencing her for a nefarious purpose when really he was doing it because he loved her and wanted her with him, but it seemed like the best way to describe what was happening between them right now. The Doctor claimed that he would leave and go back to the other universe when the time came, but she knew he was lying. He didn't wait this long for a gap to open up and come all this way to leave empty handed. Even if there hadn't been an invasion going on he would have found some excuse to stay and be with her. The Doctor was a master at manipulation and she knew he was carefully orchestrating every person and event, playing a game of chess with Rose in a quiet, methodical way until he suddenly yelled out checkmate and she would be trapped. The first move of the chess game was staying for the rebellion; the second was convincing her to sleep beside him and Jack, and now on to move number three, taking her back to the TARDIS.

The worst thing about all of this was she was sure the Doctor knew she was being manipulated into going back with him and didn't care that she knew. If she tried to call him on it, she knew he would just deny it and change tactics. She figured he already had a million contingency plans worked out just in case this whole scheme of his failed. The Doctor was a determined man, he was used to getting his way in every situation, and nothing Rose could do or say about it would make him change his mind. The moment they slipped the hood off his head and he saw her, that was it for him. In his mind, she was coming back with him no matter what. But, she knew he loved her too much to just tie her up and throw her inside the TARDIS, hence the subtle manipulation. No, he was going to make it seem as though she had decided on her own to go back with him so he wouldn't have that little prickling in his conscience telling him that he had just forced her to do something she didn't want to do.

She glanced back at the Doctor. He noticed her and gave her a loving smile.

"Are you alright?" he asked tenderly.

Rose nodded and turned her head back around. She gulped when she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Rose," he said to her. "Everything will work out, it always does."

Rose frowned wondering if he was referring to the rebellion or their relationship. She figured he probably was referring to both. They reached the false door and Rose grabbed a hold of the deep groove that had been carved into it and a tiny portion of the wall slid back to form a doorway. Rose looked behind her and saw the Doctor and Jack were both surprised. She had forgotten that they had been hooded when they were brought in.

"We found the house like this," she said to them. "Secret passageway and all these rooms back here. We have no idea why the person built it like this, but it's an old house so we figured maybe they built the house during World War Two and this part back here was in case there was a bombing or a Nazi invasion. If you notice, the walls in the hidden part of the house are made out of concrete and there are no windows anywhere, so we figured if there had been an invasion force, they could have hidden back here. The rest of the house looks like a regular house so that's why we think it's a bomb shelter and hiding place. Course it's just a theory and it really doesn't matter now since it's our headquarters but it is a pretty cool house. Anyway, that's why we've been able to hide from the lizards for so long.

She stepped aside and the Doctor and Jack walked outside. They stood and waited while she slid the wall back. She went ahead of them and they followed her through the house. When they got to the front door, they noticed that there was a black man standing there cradling a submachine gun.

"Mornin' James," Rose said.

"Mornin' Rose," he replied.

She stopped in front of him.

"James, this is the Doctor and Jack, they're new members,"

James smiled.

"Good, always nice to have newcomers, means I won't have to do guard duty as much."

He snickered as Rose rolled her eyes.

"We each take turns doing guard duty out here," she explained to the Doctor and Jack. "James wasn't here when you were brought in yesterday, right?"

"Nah, it was Colin I think," James replied.

"Well, we need to get going, James, see you later,"

"Rose."

Rose looked at James.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful; saw a couple of lizards through the windows. Ducked down just in time so they didn't see me, but they're out and about. You better take my gun; I can run back for another."

Rose sensed the Doctor and Jack's displeasure, but she took it from him anyway.

"Thanks," she said. "Be careful."

"Yeah, you too and it's nice to meet you both."

The Doctor and Jack nodded and smiled. James stepped aside and let them pass before closing the door behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were outside, Rose's keen senses took over. She kept the gun close to her as she scanned her surroundings. Behind her, Jack rested his hand on the butt of his Webley and the Doctor brought out his screwdriver and held it in his right hand. All of them kept their eyes and ears open as they walked down the deserted streets.

"We gotta be careful, sometimes the lizards hide in the alleys keeping an eye out for us," Rose whispered to the Doctor and Jack. "I think they know we're somewhere in this general area, but they just haven't worked out where, so be on your toes."

The Doctor and Jack nodded. Rose led them down the streets and through the alleys taking the roundabout way in case anyone was watching them. At one point, they walked down one alley and were startled by a noise behind a skip only to find out it was a rat foraging for food.

"Bloody rat, if you had any sense you would get the hell out of this city before the lizards eat you," Rose muttered angrily as they continued.

They paused at the end of the alley and glanced around. Seeing no one they turned left and walked down the pavement.

"God, London is eerie with no one around," Jack muttered to the Doctor. "I wonder if it was like this when the Master was in charge."

"I wouldn't doubt it especially if the Toclafane were going around killing people left and right," the Doctor replied.

Jack shook his head.

"Gives me the creeps," he said. "I wonder if Martha had the same feeling when she was going from town to town."

Rose listened quietly to their conversation wondering who this Master was and the Toclafane and…Martha? Had the Doctor had another companion in those five years? She wondered for a moment if he had been close to her and then figured he hadn't since he had been so eager to find her again. She felt a brief feeling of joy knowing that the Doctor hadn't forgotten about her even when he had traveled with this other woman and then felt guilty for thinking it. She sighed softly knowing it was more of the Doctor's subtle manipulation at work. Every look, every touch, every word he said to her was designed to instil a longing for him and doubt about her decision to stay behind. But, beyond that, she had to admit she was kinda curious to hear what had been going on those five years that the Doctor had been traveling without her. Obviously, this Martha chick was gone now since Jack was the only one with him. She wondered what had happened to her, had she been killed, ditched like Adam had been or just decided to move on of her own accord. She wanted to ask the Doctor, but was afraid that would only give him another chance to convince her to stay with him so she stayed silent.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked back at Jack.

"Hey, gotta ask, is there a me in this universe? I mean, you worked at Torchwood, did you ever run into me or possibly an Ianto Jones or Owen Harper or Toshiko Sato or Gwen Cooper?"

"Um…I've never met you here and the only one of those names I recognize is Ianto Jones. He was our tea boy at Torchwood."

Her eyes widened when Jack laughed at that.

"I see some things haven't changed," he said to the Doctor.

Rose frowned.

"Why? Who is he in the other universe?"

Jack grinned.

"Well, he was the tea boy at the Torchwood I head and he still is, but eventually he became a full fledged agent as well."

Rose raised her eyebrows.

"You…work at Torchwood?" she said amused.

"Yup, Torchwood Three in Cardiff, is there a Torchwood in Cardiff here?"

Rose shook her head.

"No, we're the only Torchwood…we WERE the only Torchwood. There weren't any others."

"That's good," the Doctor muttered to himself.

Jack sighed.

"He's not thrilled that I started up another Torchwood after Canary Wharf," he said to Rose.

"Well, can you blame me, Rose, after what Torchwood did?"

He squeezed her shoulder.

"After what happened to us there?" he said softly.

Rose swallowed trying not to show any emotion at that. She quickly looked over at Jack and the Doctor put his hand back down at his side.

"You aren't like the lot at Canary Wharf, are you?"

"No!" Jack said indignantly. "I purposely distanced myself from them and I handpicked my team to be sure that they were all good people and had the right motives for working there. We are about as far from the Canary Wharf Torchwood as you can get. But, you know, the Doctor still hears the name Torchwood and immediately his hackles raise. What about you guys, you weren't all sinister and evil, were you?"

"Not when I worked there and when I became head of it, I made damn sure that nothing untoward happened. I too was trying not to let our Torchwood become like the Canary Wharf Torchwood and when the Kajorans came, we actually were one of the only ones who figured out what was going on and tried to warn people. As the head of Torchwood, I went to the UN and stood up in front of all the ambassadors and tried to warn them, but unknown to me, the Kajorans had already gotten to most of them with their implants. The ones that were their mind slaves influenced the others and told them not to listen to me, and then eventually all the ambassadors had implants and they went back to their governments and betrayed their leaders to the Kajorans and on and on until every influential person was under their control. They didn't think I was that important so I was sent to the gold mines.

"Wait," the Doctor said. "They didn't think you were important? In my opinion, you were probably the most important person on the planet. You were the one that had all this knowledge of aliens and alien civilizations. You've traveled through space and time and you were the head of an organization that could have stopped them in their tracks."

He smiled proudly.

"Plus, you had enough influence to speak in front of the ambassadors at the UN," he said.

He looked at Jack.

"My Rose has spoken in front of the ambassadors at the UN. Have you gotten to do that as head of Torchwood?" he asked him.

Rose giggled when Jack shot him an indignant look.

"No, but I'm still important! I…work with the police very closely and…they know me by name! Plus…plus I have a pet pterodactyl."

He looked at Rose.

"You got a pet pterodactyl?"

"Um…no."

"Well, then, I'm a pretty important person too!" Jack said.

Rose glanced back at the Doctor.

"Don't mind him, angel, he's a legend in his own mind, you get used to his self-important ramblings after awhile."

Rose laughed as Jack flipped him off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another ten minutes, they turned a corner and Rose swallowed hard when she saw the TARDIS up ahead. As she stood there looking at it, she felt a hand on her shoulder and the Doctor leaning down into her ear.

"There she is, Rose, your old home," he whispered to her. "She'll be so happy to see you again. She's missed you so much."

Rose stared at the familiar blue box and sighed softly knowing that from here on out, it was going to be more and more difficult to resist the overwhelming urge to go back to the other universe with the Doctor.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

The Doctor took Rose's hand and led her towards the TARDIS. Rose stared at it with a mixture of joy and fear. She could see out of the corner of her eye that the Doctor was watching her reaction closely and she tried not to show any emotion, but she couldn't help the tear that fell from her eye. The Doctor squeezed her hand giving her some reassurance as they came towards the door.

"Hey, girl," the Doctor said cheerfully. "Look who we found!"

Rose felt the familiar nudge at the back of her mind and the feeling of euphoria from the TARDIS as she welcomed her back. While the Doctor unlocked the door, Jack put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. The Doctor opened the door and smiled at Rose.

"After you," he said gesturing inside.

He stepped aside. Rose hesitated a moment and then slowly went inside. Seeing the interior of the ship brought her to tears and she put her hand over her mouth while she gripped the railing. The Doctor and Jack quietly entered and watched silently as Rose was overcome with emotion. As tears streamed down her face, she could feel the TARDIS searching through her memories. Memories of her time in the mine flitted through her mind and she sensed the TARDIS's anguish at what she was seeing. She stumbled backwards down the ramp wanting to get away from the intrusive mind probe before the TARDIS saw too much. She gasped when she backed right into the Doctor.

"Rose, are you okay?" he asked her.

"I…I'm just…scared." Rose whispered.

The Doctor glanced back at Jack and walked around her. He held her hand.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked gently.

Rose tried to turn her head away, but the Doctor took a hold of her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Rose, what are you afraid of?"

"I…I don't belong here anymore."

The Doctor glanced at Jack.

"Could you close the door, Jack?" he said to him.

Jack nodded and shut the door behind him. The Doctor tugged at Rose's hand.

"Come and sit with us, Rose," he said softly.

Rose tried to pull away, but the Doctor held her hand tightly.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Rose, you belong here. The TARDIS is glad to see you, I can sense it."

"Why…why did you bring me here?"

The Doctor frowned.

"I thought you could help us, Rose and I figured you would want to see the TARDIS and she would want to see you. She missed you. She was just as upset as I was when you were trapped here. She was so excited when she finally found a gap. Why are you so upset at being here? What have we done that has caused you to be afraid? You don't have anything to fear from any of us."

"The TARDIS was in my memories. She was going through my memories without my permission."

The Doctor glanced at Jack.

"Oh, I…I didn't know she was doing that, Rose, I'm sorry," he said. "My only explanation for that is she was concerned because your appearance has changed and she was just trying to figure out what had happened to you. She won't do it again, I assure you. Is that why you're upset?"

Rose sighed. She decided to lay all her cards out on the table and get everything out in the open before this got any further.

"No, I'm upset because I don't like being manipulated," Rose said bluntly.

The Doctor was taken aback.

"Manipulated? By who?" he said.

"By you!"

The Doctor stared at her, shocked. His shock turned into anger.

"How exactly am I manipulating you?" he said.

"This!" Rose said waving her arms around.

The Doctor was completely confused. He looked at Jack who was just as confused as he was.

"Okay what do you mean by "This!" he said imitating her gesture. " How is bringing you here to the TARDIS manipulating you?"

"You are trying to get me to go back with you!" Rose said angrily. "That's why you stayed for the rebellion, why you had me sleep in your room, and why you brought me here. You're hoping if I stay around you, I will fall back in love with you again!"

The Doctor stared at her, stunned. He looked at Jack.

"You see what I'm talking about?" Jack mouthed to him.

The Doctor sighed.

"Come over to the captain's chair, I believe we need to have a little talk," he said taking her hand.

"No!" Rose said jerking it away.

"Rose, I am not manipulating you. I want to go sit on the captain's chair because my legs are tired from walking over here and I have a feeling this is gonna take awhile. I really don't want to stand here on the ramp and talk to you so will you please trust me enough to come and sit down?"

Rose nodded.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

He turned and walked towards the captain's chair. Rose looked back at Jack.

"After you," he said to her.

"Jack, I don't want to be here."

"That's fine, Rose, but will you at least hear our side before you go zooming out the door? There's a big misunderstanding that really needs to be sorted out here."

"Is there?"

Jack sighed.

"Yes, Rose, there is. You may think you have everything figured out, but I can assure you, you don't. Now, after you," he said pointing to the captain's chair.

Rose shook her head and walked over to the chair. She hesitated a moment, put her gun on the console and then sat down beside the Doctor. She folded her arms over her chest and slumped back against the seat. The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, I can already tell you're gonna listen with an open mind to every word we have to say," he said as Jack sat down on the other side of her.

Rose glared at him.

"I'm here, aren't I? So talk!" she barked at him.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at her.

"You know, Rose, I'm so sorry you spent ten years being a slave. I'm sorry I didn't make it back to you sooner! I tried my best to get back to you right after the gap closed, but that didn't happen. I'm not the one who forced you to work in that gold mine, so don't get an attitude with me!" he yelled. "I have no idea of the horror you went through, although I suspect it's scarred you more deeply than you let on. Apparently, it has made you paranoid because now you are accusing Jack and me of concocting some devious plan to get you to leave with us. And you know what, if this is all some big scheme to kidnap you and force you to travel with me again, then it must be working because up until now I haven't heard you voice any objection to being around us. I told you my reasons for wanting to join the rebellion. You should know me enough to know that I will not leave the Earth in peril and let the human race be obliterated. That is why Jack and I volunteered to stay. We would have done that even if we hadn't found you with the rebellion because neither of us could stomach the thought of the planet being overrun by the Kajorans! Now, on to your second accusation which is we somehow coerced you into spending the night with us…"

He looked at Jack.

"Jack when you asked Rose to come into our room, what did she say?"

"She said yes."

"Uh-huh, and did she act like she was being forced to go?"

"Nope."

The Doctor looked at her.

"You came in the room and sat right down beside me. Now I admit I was patting the camp bed when I saw you come in, but that was just a friendly invitation, I wasn't doing it as a part of some mystical Time Lord mind control to force you to come to me. You also didn't object to me giving you a back rub. In fact, as I recall, you seemed to like it. You then laid down right beside me, looked right at me, and…gave…me…your…hand. I took said hand, gave it a kiss, and rubbed it and at no point, Rose Tyler, did I hear you say, No, please let go of my hand. In fact, you went to sleep with me still holding it. I admit I was the one who asked to rub your back, but you were the one who offered your hand to me. AND…when you woke up from the nightmare, you let me hold you close to me and you hung on for dear life, Rose! If you were terrified I was manipulating you, why didn't you push me away and tell me to piss off! You also let me and Jack walk with you to the meeting and you let us sit right beside you which I gather is a rare sight since everyone else in the room was acting like you had the plague. Now, on to the last point, which is bringing you here. I told everyone in that room my plan and I believe I mentioned that you would be accompanying us to the TARDIS and when Tom looked at you to get your opinion, you said, and I quote, "Sounds a good a plan as any." Sounds a good as plan as any is far different from no, I don't want to come back to the TARDIS with you, but not once did you utter that phrase to me and Jack."

He looked her right in the eyes.

"So, you tell me, Rose, how exactly am I manipulating you?"

He folded his hands in his lap and waited for her answer.

Rose tried to look at the floor, but the Doctor jerked her head up, forcing her to look at him.

"Answer me," he said angrily. "How am I manipulating you?"

Rose felt tears come to her eyes.

"I just thought…you were doing all this because you want a relationship with me again." She said softly.

"And I believe I told you that at the moment I was content to just be friends with you and you agreed to being friends with me. Now I'm sorry if you think I was lying when I said that to you, but it's the truth. I think what's happened, Rose, is you've spent ten years being abused mentally, emotionally and physically and you've had to build a wall around yourself to survive and now you can't put your trust in anyone and anything, including your closest friends. Yes, Jack and I would be thrilled if you came back with us to the other universe after we are done here, but both of us will respect your decision if you don't. You are an adult, Rose, and you have your own mind. If you want to stay here, we will both be upset, I won't lie to you about that, but neither of us will try to make you go with us. I told you I would never force you to do something you don't want to do and I meant that. We brought you here because we figured that since we're going to try to liberate some of the mines, you would know their layouts and how to navigate through them. That's why we brought you. Neither me nor Jack nor the TARDIS are collaborating to somehow con you into going back with us, alright?"

Rose looked at the floor.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Doctor, it's just that…"

She trailed off and put her head in her hands. The Doctor sighed sadly. He started to put her hand on her back and hesitated.

"Can I touch you?" he asked her.

Rose nodded.

"Are you sure?"

Rose sobbed and nodded. The Doctor put his hand on her back.

"Rose, what I'm about to say is not an attempt to manipulate you. I'm saying this because I'm your friend and I'm concerned about you. And since this has come out, now I'm more concerned than ever. Rose, you have to let Jack and I help you. You're paranoid of everything around you, including the two people who would never, ever hurt you in any way. You're seeing things that aren't there and it's causing you to turn against us. I swear to you, Rose, I'm not manipulating you in any way and neither is Jack. I love you, I care about you, and I want to see you healed inside. I know that your life will never go back to the way it was before the Kajorans came and maybe we'll never go back to the relationship we had, but at least we can help you to move past the pain and come to terms with what's happened so you can have a happy, fulfilling life again. But in order to do that, you have to trust us. Trust me, Rose. I told you that I went through everything you are going through after the Time War ended. I know how to help you, Rose, but you have to trust me."

He leaned over and kissed the back of her head as Rose wept softly.

"Please let me help," he begged. "Aren't you tired of being this way? Aren't you tired of not being able to trust anyone, throwing up walls, and keeping people at arm's length because you're terrified of being hurt or betrayed again? You're pushing people away who truly care about you, including us. Aren't you tired of being alone and shouldering your heavy burden? Wouldn't it be better if you had friends to lean on and help you carry it? You saved me from my pain and despair, Rose, now please let me return the favor and save you. Let me in before it's too late."

Rose leaned up and the Doctor took her in his arms.

"Please, help me, Doctor," she sobbed. "I don't wanna be like this anymore. Please make me better."

The Doctor held her tightly as Jack laid his head on her back.

"I will, my Rose, I will make you better, I promise," the Doctor murmured as he stroked the back of her head. "All of us will help you, Jack, the TARDIS, and me. Just trust us, Rose, please trust us. All of us love you more than life itself."

"I trust you. I trust all of you. Please help me."

The Doctor closed his eyes and kissed the back of her head. He smiled when he sensed the TARDIS's communicating her relief to him and her willingness to help Rose.

"Everything will be alright, Rose," he murmured. "It won't be pleasant, but I promise there is light at the end of the long, dark tunnel you're in and you've finally taken your first step towards it."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

After they had finished talking, Jack escorted Rose back to her old room while the Doctor busied himself making the fake passes. As he studied the pass and made up a duplicate in his computer, he felt a nudge at the back of his mind.

"Is Rose alright back there?" the Doctor asked.

The TARDIS grunted an affirmative.

"Please keep an eye on her while she rests and let me know if she needs anything."

The TARDIS grunted another affirmative.

"I'm so glad she's finally letting me help her," he said as he kept his eyes on the monitor. "I never realized just how bad it was until she started accusing us of manipulating her."

He sighed sadly. Shaking his head, he glanced up at the ceiling.

"Was I just as bad after the Time War?"

_Worse._ He heard the TARDIS saying in his mind.

"I must have been a bear to live with back then."

_You were, but I understood why. I helped you through most of your pain and when Rose came along, she healed the rest._

"This is why I need to heal her now, why we need to heal her. She's so lost and alone, she doesn't deserve to live her life like that. Not when we can help."

The TARDIS grunted an affirmative and the Doctor smiled.

"Thanks, girl," he said fondly.

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"You think you'll be alright on your own?" the Doctor asked as he handed Jack the old passes and the newly created ones.

"Oh yeah, I got a good memory, I know exactly how to get back and I can handle a few stupid lizards. You tend to Rose and start her therapy and I'll see you later."

The Doctor nodded and gave him a hug.

"Be careful, old friend," he said.

"You too, Doc," Jack replied.

They broke apart and Jack put the passes in his pocket. He picked up the submachine gun from the console.

"I think I'll just borrow this for awhile," he said to him.

"Yes, Take it, get that thing out of here, please," the Doctor said.

"I figured you wouldn't object," Jack replied.

He smiled at the Doctor and looked up at the ceiling.

"See you later, doll, don't let the Doctor bore you to death with his ramblings."

He grinned when the TARDIS rumbled out a laugh and playfully nudged the back of his mind.

The Doctor stood and watched Jack leave the TARDIS. The moment the door was closed, he glanced up at the ceiling.

"I do not ramble." He said indignantly. "Everything I say has a purpose and besides if anyone is bothering you, it's Jack with his smelly feet."

The TARDIS rumbled out a loud affirmative.

"See, thought so, Jack is the only one who doesn't think he has a foot odor problem," he said. "But we know better, don't we, girl?"

The TARDIS nudged the back of his mind.

The Doctor turned towards the back door and sighed softly.

"Well, old friend, looks like the Doctor is in," he said to the TARDIS as he headed towards it.

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Rose raised her head off her pillow when the Doctor entered the room.

"Getting used to your old room again?" he asked her.

"I guess, it just feels strange to be in here again after so long," she replied. "I never thought I'd see it again."

The Doctor nodded and knelt down beside her. He took her hand.

"Are you ready to get started?" he asked gently.

"What are you going to do to me?"

The Doctor hesitated.

"I want to look inside your memories, Rose. I want to see what you went through so I can know how best to help you."

He put his hand against her cheek when he saw the fear in her eyes.

"I can put you into a deep sleep so you won't have to relieve the memories," he said.

"Please, will you do that?"

The Doctor smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Of course, I don't want to make you suffer any more than you have already. I will sedate you and you'll fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. You won't even know I'm inside your mind."

"Doctor, are you sure you want to do this?"

He nodded.

"I need to know what happened, Rose, and seeing into your memories is the best way to do that. If you told me yourself, you would leave out some details and your mind would block others."

"It's just that I don't want you to be in pain watching them."

The Doctor smiled, kissed, and nuzzled her cheek.

"It won't be pleasant for me, but I'll endure it if it means I can finally help you to heal from everything. Don't worry about me, Rose. I'll be fine."

"Do…do you want me to go to the med bay?"

"No, stay here, I want you to have a proper rest in a proper bed while I'm doing this. Just stay here and I'll get the sedative."

He gave her hand a squeeze before leaving the room. Rose silently thanked God that the Doctor had something to knock her out while he did this. Going through her enslavement the first time was bad enough without reliving it a second time.

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Rose grimaced as the Doctor stuck the needle in her arm and purple liquid went in. He pulled it out and laid the syringe on the bedside table.

"Now, just relax and close your eyes," he said to her in a soft voice.

Rose nodded and closed her eyes. The Doctor rubbed her arm as he stared down at her.

"You're completely safe here, Rose, no one will hurt you now," he murmured to her. "I won't let anyone inside the TARDIS. I won't let anyone take you away. Just relax and trust me."

"I trust you, Doctor," Rose murmured as she slipped away.

The Doctor smiled and kissed her temple. He laid his head against hers and listened as her breathing became calm and steady. He lifted his head up and smiled when he saw she was in a deep sleep.

"Now, my love, at long last you can begin to heal from everything that has happened to you." He whispered to her.

He pressed his fingertips to the sides of her temples.

"Well, here goes nothing," he muttered.

Closing his eyes, he began to reach out into her mind. He went back through her memories searching until he found the day they had said goodbye on Bad Wolf Bay. He lingered there for a moment, listening to Rose tell him she loved him, savoring the sound of those words coming from her lips. Then, he moved on ahead into her life after that day. For the most part, he was fast-forwarding through her memories, slowing down occasionally to watch as she worked at Torchwood, helped raise her little brother, cried for him at night before she went to sleep. He lingered at a couple of those memories for a moment, listening to her weep and wishing he could have been there to comfort her before he went on. He stopped frequently during her memories of Torchwood watching her life as a field agent, his hearts swelling with pride whenever she completed an assignment successfully. He stopped again when she was promoted, listening as she was made the head of Torchwood. His proud smile matched her own when he watched her shaking her boss's hand and accepting the promotion.

"My Rose, you came so very far before all this happened. I'm so proud of you," he whispered to himself.

He fast-forwarded on until finally he found what he was looking for. Her speech to the ambassadors at the UN. He started up the memory and mentally projected an image of himself into it so he would be free to look at anything he felt was important. He was standing behind Rose as she stood inside a small room clutching a small stack of papers to her chest. No one could see or hear him, which was a good thing since he was talking to himself now.

"Wow," the Doctor said. "You mean Rose actually wore a skirt when she talked to the ambassadors instead of jeans and a hoodie. I'm impressed," he said.

He stared at the outfit she was wearing. She had on a grey skirt, plain white blouse, and grey jacket. Her hair was tied back in a tight bun. Flesh colored pantyhose and black pumps completed the look. The Doctor stared appreciatively at her sexy legs. It wasn't often that he got a chance to look at them, which he felt was a shame since her legs were one of her best assets.

He looked over when the door opened and a young man stuck his head in.

"They're ready for you, Ms. Tyler," he said to her.

"Thank you," she said.

The Doctor watched as she let out a deep sigh and he knew she was gathering up the courage to speak in front of everyone. He didn't blame her for being nervous. To go from living a life as an ordinary shop girl to getting up and speaking in front of the UN was monumental and he knew how overwhelming it must have been for her. It made him even more proud that she actually went through with it and didn't just go hide in her office.

Rose held her head high and walked out of the room. The Doctor followed as the man led her down a hallway towards another closed door. He opened it and the Doctor could see a small raised stage with a podium in the center of it. The young man nodded at her and she walked through the door. He closed the door before the Doctor got through, but he just passed through it and followed Rose up onto the stage. He glanced over at the ambassadors who were sitting at long tables with placards in front of them denoting what country they were from. There were several rows of tables and each row was slightly higher than the one in front of it. The ambassadors sitting at the tables stared at Rose with stony silence as she walked to the podium.

"Whooooo," the Doctor said pumping his fist in the air. "My woman, everyone, raise the roof, She's gonna speak, whoooooooo!"

The ambassadors, not seeing him, paid no attention to his cheering. The Doctor snorted.

"Well, I for one am thrilled she's here," he muttered to himself.

He stood directly behind her as she stepped up to the podium and sat her papers down on it. She paused a moment and then cleared her throat.

"Thank you so much for allowing me to be here today to speak to you about the Kajoran visitors," she began.

The Doctor glared at a man sitting at the table on the third row.

"Hey Bulgaria!" he yelled. "Wake up and pay attention while my Rose is speaking."

"As you know, I am head of Torchwood which is based in London. We have been monitoring the Kajorans ever since they first made contact with us and we have reason to believe that their motives are less than friendly."

The ambassadors looked at each other in shock and disbelief.

"And where is your proof of this, Mademoiselle Tyler?" the French ambassador said angrily.

"We have reason to believe that a recent outbreak of kidnappings is linked to the Kajorans," she said to him. "There have been many reports of people leaving their houses and never being seen again."

"So? What makes you think that the Kajorans are involved?" the German ambassador said.

"Because my girl is smart and figured it out before you, you ninnies!" the Doctor said to him.

"In my experience working with aliens, I have seen many instances where an alien race landed on a planet and pretended to be friends with the native population there while they were secretly planning to conquer them. The Kajoran's offer of sharing technology and resources is exactly the same sort of scam I have seen other alien races use to gain the native population's trust."

"I see," the Chinese ambassador said. "And where have you seen these other instances?"

"From me!" the Doctor said waving his hands around in the air. "She traveled with me and saw it! Whoooooo!"

He noticed Rose pausing a moment.

"From me, Rose, say, "from traveling with the Doctor," there's a good girl."

"I've seen it during my time at Torchwood."

"LIAR!" the Doctor said poking her in the back.

The ambassadors looked at each other.

"You have seen many instances of aliens invading other planets just from working at Torchwood?" the British ambassador said in disbelief.

The Doctor gave her a smug smile.

"Ah, see Rose, you tell one white lie and then you end up having to defend it. Told ya to say it was me."

"Yes, I have extensive files at Torchwood that document this kind of invasion scenario."

"I find that very hard to believe, Ms. Tyler," the US ambassador said.

"Sir, we at Torchwood are dedicated to defending the Earth against alien attack. We make it our business to know what tactics hostile alien civilizations use to gain control of other planets."

"I see," the US ambassador said. "And is there proof in these files of yours that the Kajorans are among these hostile alien civilizations?"

"No, I admit we don't have any file on the Kajorans since this is the first time we have ever heard of them, but---"

"Then you have no proof at all!" the US ambassador said angrily. "You are just trying to stir up trouble and prevent the Earth from gaining valuable knowledge and technology!"

"No, that's not it at all!" Rose protested. "I'm just trying to warn everyone not to trust them completely---"

"And we should just trust you then, a mere girl who is the head of the London branch of the X-Files!" the US ambassador spat out. "The Kajorans have been extremely gracious to the people of the Earth and have done nothing to warrant this paranoid outburst from someone who doesn't even know what she's talking about!"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at the ambassador and he started walking towards him.

"Pardon me, angel," he said as he walked past Rose. "My Time Lord senses are suddenly tingling."

Half listening to Rose's defense of herself and Torchwood, he walked up to the first table where the US ambassador was sitting and leaned in. He looked at the left side of his head and then his right. His eyes widened when he noticed a tiny incision there.

"Well, hello there, mister mind slave ambassador," he said looking the ambassador in the eyes. "I can see now why you are sitting here ranting and raving instead of listening to my wise Rose's words."

Ignoring the ambassador as he began an attack on Rose's character, he walked among the other ambassadors silently tallying up the number of incision scars he found. He counted 23 incision scars after he was finished and he noticed that the ones that had them had a blank look on their faces. However, that didn't mean Rose could have detected them since there were a few non mind slave ambassadors that had the same blank look on their faces from being thoroughly bored. He looked back at Rose who by now was focused on defending herself instead of her findings which he figured was the ambassador's intention in the first place. If he got her busy defending herself then she would have no time left to warn them of the Kajorans. The Doctor sighed knowing that his poor Rose was fighting a losing battle here and he wished he were visible so he could back her up. Guilt once again plagued his mind at not being able to help her when she needed him the most. Figuring he would learn nothing further from this memory, he projected himself back out and fast-forwarded on to her time as a slave.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

The first memory the Doctor came to that concerned her enslavement was a couple of Kajorans barging into her office at Torchwood. The Doctor projected himself into the memory and watched briefly while she tried to defend herself as they chased her around the room. As she put up a fight, he could hear the terrified screams of the other employees in the building and the moans and groans of the ones that were dying. He turned his full attention back to Rose and winced when one of the lizards punched her hard in the face and her head hit the front of her desk as she flew backwards. She slumped in front of it and looked up at the Kajorans in a daze as they grabbed her and pulled her out of the room.

He went back out and went on.

The next memory he projected himself in to, she was in the back of the truck on the way to the slave-processing center. It was completely dark inside the trailer and the Doctor couldn't see anything, but he could hear the terrified whispers and cries of the poor souls around him and his hearts ached wishing he could help them. He couldn't hear Rose so he had no idea where she was, but she knew she was here since it was her memory. So he stuffed his hands in his pockets while he listened to the sound of the truck moving and the moans of the captives.

"Listen to me,"

The Doctor jerked his head up when he heard Rose's voice coming from somewhere in the darkness.

"You need to just do what they say, alright?" she was saying. "Don't put up a fight right now or they'll kill you on the spot. We can escape after we've gotten inside and they aren't watching us as closely, but trust me, just remain calm."

The Doctor smiled. Rose was trying to take control of the situation and calm the others so they wouldn't panic and do something to injure themselves and others. So far, the Doctor had seen Rose act in a calm, mature manner through all this and had done all the right things and his chest swelled with pride until he felt like he was going to burst. Just this little bit of her memories showed him the reason why she had survived her enslavement when so many others had perished.

The Doctor heard the truck slowing down and backing up.

"Remember, just don't make any stupid moves," Rose said. "Just cooperate for the moment until we figure a way out of this."

The truck stopped and the Doctor heard some of the captives whimpering when he heard the cab doors opening and closing. There was a pause and then suddenly the trailer door slid up and the lights from the building blinded everyone momentarily. The Doctor saw Rose sitting on the floor near the front holding her hand to her eyes as she blinked furiously. One of the Kajorans pulled out the ramp, lowered it to the ground, and ran up it waving his laser blaster at the terrified captives.

"Get up and get out now!" he barked at them. "Form a line and walk directly into the building! Any sudden moves and you die!"

The Doctor noticed that most of the captives looked at Rose. She nodded and everyone slowly got to their feet. The Doctor walked through them until he reached Rose's side. He noticed the Kajoran was staring directly at her with a smirk on his face, but Rose either didn't or wouldn't notice him, concentrating instead on helping the others form a line and get down the ramp. The Doctor gritted his teeth when the Kajoran grabbed her arm and jerked her into the line.

"Get down there and quit helping the others! I'll take care of getting you filthy mammals inside!" he hissed at her.

Rose glared at him momentarily before she walked down the ramp. The Doctor followed along beside her, glancing around at the Kajorans standing around the truck. Even though he knew she couldn't feel it, he put his hand on her shoulder as they walked inside the building.

Once they were inside, the Kajorans began dividing the captives into two groups. Those who tried to resist were beaten and forced to comply, but the Doctor watched Rose walk calmly towards the group of people on her right side when they pulled her out of the crowd. Once the captives were sorted, three Kajorans took the group on the left off to one part of the building and three more took Rose's group off to another part. The Doctor noticed that the other group consisted mostly of young children or older people or those who looked weak and he guessed those were the ones who were going to be sent to the freezers. Rose's group was made up of people who were around her age, who were young and fit and he knew these were the ones who were going to be sent to the mines. He walked next to Rose watching as she glanced around nervously at her surroundings. He could see that she was wondering what was going to happen to her and he ached inside knowing that the darkness was coming for her at this point and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

They walked Rose's group towards the back of the building. As they did, a woman near the back suddenly began to panic and run away. Rose yelled at her to come back, but it was too late. The Kajoran bringing up the rear shot her in the head with his blaster killing her instantly. Everyone except Rose screamed, but they were instantly silenced when the Kajoran leveled his blaster at them and ordered them to shut up. The Doctor sighed angrily wanting nothing more than to wring the Kajoran's neck when he heard him snicker at them.

"Now get moving!" he ordered pointing ahead of them.

The crowd turned as one and kept on walking. The Doctor glanced back and saw a couple of Kajorans grabbing the woman's corpse and dragging it away.

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They reached the back of the building and the Kajorans made them stand in front of a closed door. One by one, the captives were led inside. They didn't come back out so the Doctor figured they were going out by another door so the others wouldn't see what was happening to them. Finally, it was Rose's turn. Two Kajorans came out and grabbed her arms. She didn't put up a fight and let her lead them in. The Doctor followed behind them. Once they were all inside, one of the Kajorans shut the door. Once the door was closed, the leader walked over and without warning slammed his fist into Rose's stomach. The Doctor came up beside her as the Kajorans let go of her and she fell to her knees gasping for air.

"They told me you were trying to lead the other captives," the Kajoran leader said getting down into her face. "Too bad where you are going you will not be leading anything, only following. You are nothing, mammal, you are only fit to serve us and so you shall!"

The Doctor balled up his fist at that. The Kajoran leader smirked at her and with a nod; the Kajorans beside her grabbed her under the arms, picked her up, and dragged her to a metal chair. The Doctor followed along behind forcing himself to watch as the love of his life was humiliated and abused in front of him. They strapped her into the chair and Rose stared ahead silently as a Kajoran grabbed an electric razor and began to shave her head, making sure to go slow enough so Rose could watch the locks of her hair falling to the ground around her. The leader stood in front of her watching her silently.

"You are very brave, mammal," he said to her. "I give you that, but once you see where you are going, you will not be so bold. You will spend the rest of your miserable, pathetic life toiling for us and you will die slowly. But, long before you die physically, you will die inside, mammal and you will go to your grave knowing that you are a worthless piece of pond scum just like all your kind!"

"Go to hell!" Rose spat out.

The Doctor winced as the leader lunged forward and hit her repeatedly in the face. The Doctor felt tears come to his eyes as he watched blood start to pour from her nose. The two Kajorans standing beside her was watching the beating with glee making him ache even more. This was what he was afraid of seeing, but he knew at the same time that he was right to do this because he could use it to help her work through the pain. For her sake and his, he resisted the urge to move back out of the memory and move on. Finally, the leader let up on the assault and stepped back. The Doctor moved in front of her and laid his hand on hers when he saw her bloodied, bruised face. Despite that, Rose still glared at the leader, which amused him.

"She has spirit," he said to his friends. "Good, that spirit will allow her to last a long time in the mines."

He nodded and one of the Kajorans grabbed her head and forced it down. The other one grabbed something that resembled a silver box with a keypad on top. He punched in a series of numbers, set the box on the back of Rose's head, and pushed a button. The Doctor saw a bright light flash under the box and when he lifted it back up Rose had the prisoner tattoo on her head.

"Now you're all ready for your life as a slave," the leader said gleefully. "We'll see how long your leadership instincts last when you are digging in the dirt and being whipped and beaten."

He nodded at the two Kajorans.

"Take her away and bring in the next one," he said.

They unstrapped her and dragged her out of the chair. The Doctor watched as they dragged her out a door behind the chair before projecting himself out and moving on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next memory he stopped at was when she was in the mines in Antarctica. He projected himself in and slowly walked up to Rose. He stood quietly watching as she swung a pickaxe at the wall in front of her. Sweat was pouring down her face and her eyes were glazed over which the Doctor figured was because she was trying to concentrate mindlessly on the task in order to keep doing it. He neared closer to her trying to get a good look at her in the dimly lit cave. He could see several whip marks on her back, but the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that none of them were fresh. The back of her head dripped with sweat that poured down her back and onto her legs. The only piece of clothing was the loincloth around her crotch and even that didn't cover very much. Judging from the amount of sweat, he figured that she wouldn't have been able to stand wearing much more than that anyway with the intense heat and the constant exertion. He stood for a moment watching her in anguished silence before he decided to leave her for a moment and check out the rest of the mine. He figured this could be a good opportunity to get a general feel for the layout and he wanted to see what Rose was forced to see in her day-to-day struggle to survive. He walked off leaving Rose to toil in the semi-darkness.

The Doctor felt sick to his stomach. He had observed some of the other diggers and even followed a few of the mind slaves before he came upon the poor people who were in charge of smelting the gold. The sweat on Rose's body was a trickle compared to the people who were working near the fiery furnace. Sweat cascaded off their bodies like a waterfall and most of the ones he observed had burns and bruises on them. He shook his head sadly wondering if any of these people were still alive after working around the punishing heat and flames. Compared to them, Rose had it easy. He forced himself to stand still and observe them.

As he watched, his eyes went to one young man who suddenly stopped doing his work and stood in front of the furnace watching the flames with a mesmerized look on his face. He stayed that way for a few moments even though the other workers around him warned him to get back to work before the foreman found him and punished him. Then without warning, the man suddenly plunged himself headfirst into the flames. The Doctor and the other workers stepped backwards. Tears came to the Doctor's eyes as he listened to the young man screaming in agony for a moment before he mercifully expired. He stood there in stunned silence as the other workers stared at the corpse that was sticking halfway out of the furnace and then one of the men walked up, shoved the rest of the corpse in and all of them carried on with their work. The Doctor swallowed hard at what he had just seen, wondering if Rose had ever witnessed someone committing suicide during her captivity. Just seeing what had occurred around her made him wonder how she had managed to get through it with her sanity as intact as it was. It could just as easily had been her that had just plunged into the flames and he thanked Rassilon that she hadn't thought of that. He would have never survived the heartbreaks if he had come to this universe and found out she had burned herself alive to escape the horror of her captivity.

He stared at the workers smelting the gold for a moment more before he could take no more and decided to back out.

He was about to go back out all the way when he suddenly had a thought and decided to do one more thing. He wanted to go into her subconcious and see the dream that she had last night. He went deeper into her mind and found her subconcious. He went through it until he found her most recent dream. He projected into it and observed his and Jack's enslavement with a mixture of horror and revulsion. As he watched himself as a mind slave, he suddenly realized why she had been so uneasy when he was handling the implant earlier. After watching himself mindlessly strangling her to death, he could take no more and backed completely out of her mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor opened his eyes and took his fingers away from Rose's temple. He stared down at his beloved sleeping peacefully and he felt tears come to his eyes. Wrapping his arms around her, he laid his head down on her shoulder and wept anguished tears for her and what she had gone through during his absence.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Rose finally woke from her nap. The Doctor had been correct, she didn't remember having any dreams, and she felt refreshed after having the first restful sleep in years. She glanced up and saw the Doctor was fast asleep near her head. She swallowed hard when she saw the tear streaks on his cheeks, and she suddenly felt guilty that she had allowed him to see inside her mind. The Doctor had enough grief in his life without taking on her burden.

She sighed wishing the Doctor had never found a way back to her. Her life up until now had been easy. All she had to do, day in and day out, was keep herself alive and fight the Kajorans. Without the Doctor in her life, she could shut off her feelings and concentrate on winning the rebellion. If she died in battle, there was no one around who would really mourn her, and there were no loved ones for her to leave behind, the rebellion would simply continue without her. Before the Doctor came back, she didn't have to worry about losing someone else she loved to the Kajorans. She had accepted the death of her family, or she had accepted it until the Doctor brought up the possibility that her mum and little brother might be alive. That was what the Doctor did; complicate everything until she wasn't sure what to do anymore. As she stared at him, a million scenarios went through her head, a million "what ifs" about what might happen to him and Jack. Anything could happen now. They could be killed, captured, tortured, and enslaved. What if her dream wasn't a dream but a preview of the future? What if she was so concerned about them, that she made a mistake and ended up getting captured along with them and then watched as the Doctor was made into a mind slave and executed her? She couldn't let that happen to him or Jack. She couldn't let them suffer and die for her. She had to get away from them.

She rose up slowly hoping she wouldn't wake the Doctor. But, the moment she moved, the Doctor was instantly awake and alert. Rose groaned and damned the man's acute alien senses.

"Rose?" he said groggily.

Rose bolted from the bed and sprinted from the room.

"Rose!" the Doctor cried out, as he followed her.

"Leave me alone!" Rose screamed at him.

"Rose! What's wrong?" the Doctor yelled.

Rose turned a corner and saw the entrance to the console room up ahead. She put on a fresh burst of speed hoping to get out of the TARDIS before the Doctor could catch up with her. But, when she got to the doorway, it suddenly disappeared and became a wall. Rose screamed curses at the TARDIS and pounded on the wall.

"LET ME OUT!" she screamed.

She felt the Doctor tighten his arms around her and let out a scream as she tried to wiggle free.

"Rose, calm down!" the Doctor said, dodging her fists. "Please just calm down and tell me what's going on!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Rose shrieked.

"NO, NOT TILL YOU TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!" the Doctor screamed at her.

"DAMN IT, WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, ROSE, THAT'S WHY!"

Rose wept at that and sank to the floor as all the fight went out of her. The Doctor followed her down and held her from behind.

"Why won't you go?" she sobbed. "Why do you still care for me? I'm not the Rose you fell in love with!"

"Yes, you are, deep down inside you still are," the Doctor said, pressing his face to hers. "And I can help that part of you come to the surface again."

Rose tried to struggle free, but the Doctor held her tighter.

"I won't let go, Rose," he said in her ear. "Not until you talk to me. You asked for my help and here I am, so tell me what's happening. Why are you scared of me again? Did you see your memories while you were asleep?"

Rose sobbed and shook her head. The Doctor rubbed her side.

"Then, what is it, Rose?" he said. "What's made you so upset that you're trying to push me away again?"

Rose was crying so hard she could hardly get her breath. The Doctor laid his cheek against the side of her head and held her until she calmed down enough to speak.

"Tell me," the Doctor said to her.

"I'm…"

She shuddered.

"I'm…afraid," she said in a small, scared voice.

"Of what?" the Doctor said gently.

Rose couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Of the dream? Are you afraid your dream will come true?" the Doctor prompted.

Rose jerked her eyes up and stared at him, terrified.

"You…you saw?" she asked.

"Yes, Rose, I saw the dream you had last night," he said.

Rose wept harder. The Doctor took her hand and held it tightly.

"Is that why you're trying to push me away again? Because you're scared Jack and I will become slaves?" he asked.

Rose swallowed hard and nodded. The Doctor held her tighter and let her calm down a bit more before he continued.

"Can I tell you a story, Rose?" he said softly.

Rose hesitated a moment and then nodded. The Doctor held her protectively and took a deep breath. He had never told anyone this before, and it was hard to think about what had happened, let alone talk about it, but he hoped what he had to say would help Rose.

"When the Time War started and I realized there was no way out of it for me, I decided to part company with my companions in order to keep them safe and spare them the hell I knew was coming," he said rubbing Rose's side. "They protested when I did it, just like you protested when I tried to send you away on the Gamestation and at Canary Wharf. They begged me to let them stay, told me that they were willing to die for me, but I was like you, Rose, I was scared that something might happen to them and I refused their help because I couldn't bear the thought of watching them suffer or die. So, I took them home and shoved them out the door. I left them bitter and angry and I'm sure they probably don't want anything to do with me now, all because I made the decision for them when it was theirs to make. And so, at the time when I could have used my friends the most, I went off to fight a war with a deadly enemy who showed me no mercy. And, the moment I got in the thick of things, I instantly regretted my decision because no other Time Lord came to help me. I had to make do with the little help I could get from the people who were brave enough to stand up to the Daleks, and I appreciated every bit of it, but the people who chose to fight with me had no experience fighting the Daleks, and I still ended up doing the bulk of the work. At the time I parted company with my companions, I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping them at arm's length but what I was really doing was setting myself up for disaster. It's a wonder I came through the Time War alive, and there were a couple of times when I did nearly end up dying."

He kissed her cheek.

"I know you think you're being selfless by trying to push me and Jack away so we'll be safe, but do you remember how angry you got when I did it to you and how determined you were to come back and be at my side no matter what the cost?"

"Yes, and that's…how I ended up getting separated from you." Rose sobbed.

"Yes, but if you think about it, Rose, we would have been separated anyway if we had just stuck with my original idea. You ended up being trapped, but you helped save the Earth from destruction. If it had just been me there, I never would have been able to get to the lever without being sucked in to the void and if I had waited until it had shut off, I'm sure a Dalek would have shot me on the spot. Rose, you helped me accomplish something I could never have done on my own. I wasn't kidding when I called you the defender of the Earth, Rose, because that's exactly what you are. And now, you've defended two Earths which is even more impressive.

He held her close.

"I saw your speech at the UN. I saw the night you were taken to the slave-processing center, and I saw you working in the mine. Rose, I am just in awe of you. When I first met you, I thought you were just another stupid ape. I never would have guessed you would be capable of so much and how courageous you could be. What I saw in that mine horrified me tremendously, and I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help you get through it. But, you know what? You handled everything with dignity and courage and you did all the right things to keep yourself alive, and there are no words I can think of to describe how proud I am of you."

He lifted her head, so he could look at her.

"Rose, are you aware of just how much power you have in that little body of yours? How much strength, fortitude, and determination? Do you realize what you accomplished and how far you came by surviving all this? I mean, I only saw a small sample of what you been through, and I'm in complete awe just from seeing that. You are a credit to your species, Rose. You and people like you are the reason I have so much faith in humanity. Rose Tyler, do you know how special you really are to be able to do all you've done and come out the other side alive and sane?"

Tears flowed down Rose's cheeks.

"You're the only one who's ever said anything like this to me," she said softly. "You're the only one who ever really believed in me. Even my…my mum never thought I would do anything more than get a good job, settle down and raise a family. You saw that I could do better than that, and you gave me the chance to prove myself. You're the reason I survived because you showed me I was strong enough to handle myself. You are the reason I made it through the mine alive."

She stroked his face.

"That's why I want you to go. I don't want anything to happen to you because…I can't bear the thought of losing you again. You need to…show others what you showed me."

"I did actually, two women who came from ordinary backgrounds just like you and went above and beyond what I asked of them just like you did. So yes, I have been busy helping others to realize their potential while we were apart, and I will probably help others after all this is over, but right now, you are the one who needs my help. Because as strong as you are and as brave as you are and as wonderful as you are, you still need me, and you still need Jack, and you need all the other members of the resistance. And yes, I know how heartbreaking it is to see people you care about put in harm's way and how much you want them to be someplace safe. Jack and I feel the same way, and we're just as scared for you as you are for us. But, there is strength in numbers, Rose. There is love, support, and a bond that you can't get when you are by yourself. Rose, please don't make the mistake of going it alone and getting in over your head like I did. If you are trying to be like me then do what I do, make use of every scrap of help you can get because believe me, angel, most times help doesn't come in abundance, it comes in small bursts, and you have to be wise enough to know it when it comes and take advantage of it."

He stroked her head.

"So, once again, Rose, here I am offering you the help and support that you so desperately need. I am fully aware of the risks, and I accept them willingly because there's no place I'd rather be right now than fighting at your side. I allowed you to stay and help me at Canary Wharf even though I was worried sick about losing you, now will you show me the same courtesy and let me stay with you?"

He smiled at her.

"Can't break up the old team, you know. What's Shiver without Shake, after all?"

Rose let out a laugh and nodded.

"So, will you let me help so the TARDIS will bring back the door and let us out?" the Doctor asked her.

Rose touched her forehead to his.

"Are…are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"I've never been surer of anything in all my lives," the Doctor replied. "And trust me, I have no intention of doing anything to make that dream come true, and I'm sure Jack feels the same way. So will you please, please trust us and quit doing this? It's very tiring trying to convince you to keep me around, you know, especially since there is no way in hell you are getting rid of me. So, will you let us be a team?"

"Yes," Rose said cuddling close to him.

The Doctor smiled and rubbed her back.

"I can understand your fear of losing me. After all, if I die, you might end up getting a weirdo in my place."

He put his hand over Rose's mouth when she started to open it.

"Shush it, Tyler," he said, as she giggled through his hand. "I know exactly what you're gonna say, and you can just save your breath!"

He breathed a sigh of relief when the TARDIS door suddenly appeared beside him.

"Well, I guess you satisfied my ship, and she's letting you go," he said. "Cause you know she wasn't about to let you out until you calmed down and listened to what I had to say. You've been running for a very long time, Rose, it's time to stop and see who's following you because they're trying to catch up and help you."

He hugged Rose tightly.

"Now, how about you and I go back to the headquarters, see what's going on and go get Jack so we can start liberating the mines and freeing others from the hell you went through. Sound good?"

"Yes," Rose said.

"Great, allons-y then!" he said getting to his feet.

"Doctor."

The Doctor looked down at her.

"Yes?"

Rose hesitated a moment and then laid her head against his hand.

"I love you," she whispered. "I love you so much."

The Doctor smiled and knelt down beside her.

"I know you do, my angel," he whispered, putting his arm around her. "And I love you just as deeply."

He kissed the top of her head and lingered there for a moment; silently thanking Rassilon he had met this amazing woman.

"Come, my hearts," he murmured to her. "Let's go back to the headquarters and get the other member of our team, so we can get this rebellion underway."

Rose nodded and stood with him. She took her hand in his, and he gave it a squeeze as they walked towards the front door.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Rose looked over at the console when they entered the room. She frowned.

"Where's my gun?" she asked.

"I let Jack have it."

Rose stared at him in disbelief.

"What are we gonna fight with then?"

"Our wits and my sonic screwdriver, same as we always did," the Doctor replied. "You do not need guns to defeat an invading hoard. We proved that when we got rid of the Cybermen and Daleks. You are better than that, Rose. You have enough intelligence in that skull of yours to let you find a better solution than just killing people mindlessly."

"And if they shoot us dead, the moral high ground is ours?" Rose said, dryly.

"Exactly!" the Doctor said, grinning at her. "They may have the brawn, but we have the brains and that always wins out in the end. Trust me, after centuries of doing this, I've learned that much. Now come on, let's head back before it gets dark."

"What about Jack, then? If you don't believe in fighting with guns, why did you let Jack have it?" she asked, as she took his hand.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Jack thinks differently, and I've learned that it's better to let him do what he wants than to sit around and argue with him for hours on end. I like Jack, but the man thinks he knows everything."

He shoot Rose a warning look.

"What? I wasn't gonna say anything."

She laughed when the Doctor snorted at that.

They paused at the door. The Doctor opened it and looked out.

"Okay, I think it's safe," he said, looking back at her. "Let's go before someone notices us here."

Rose nodded and took his hand. They stepped outside, and he closed the door behind him.

"You lead, you know that whole twisty way back better than I do. I'll keep an eye out for Kajorans."

Rose nodded.

"This way," she said, leading off to the right.

They hurried quickly through the streets while the Doctor kept his eyes and ears alert for the slightest sound or movement. There were a few times that they heard a sound and quickly ducked into an alley only to find out the culprit was a mangy, stray cat or dog.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, go find a home to go to," the Doctor said after the third stray.

He looked at Rose and shook his head.

"I'm surprised there are any animals left since the Kajorans seem to be taking everything in sight." he said, shrugging.

He noticed Rose's silence and gave her a worried glance.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking," she said.

"Pence for your thoughts then?"

"I'm thinking about what you said earlier about the people who are in stasis."

"Yeah?"

"Doctor, mum and my little brother were sent to the freezers a long time ago. Do you think…"

The Doctor paused to consider that.

"Do you know where they were taken?" he asked her.

Rose shook her head.

"No, I assumed at first they were dead, since the Kajorans always referred to the storage facilities as freezers. When we first found out they might be in stasis, it gave me hope they might be alive, and when you mentioned it, I began to wonder again, but…I don't want to get my hopes up…not till we have proof."

"If they are alive, we will find them," the Doctor said, as they resumed walking. "What about Pete and Mickey and Jake?"

Rose swallowed hard.

"Jake was killed in a firefight when the Kajorans came to the house. Dad and Mickey were captured and…sent to the mines. They were taken the same day as me; the Kajorans went to my home and workplace at the same time, so they could be sure they got me. Mickey managed to call me on his mobile before he was nabbed, and told me what was going on. I tried to escape Torchwood, but the lizards were already in the building, and there was no way out for me or anyone else. Then, the Kajoran bastards filled me in on the rest after I was captured, so they could torment me. That's been over ten years ago, so I doubt they're still alive."

"Oh, I don't know, you survived it, perhaps they did too," the Doctor replied. "We have to keep hoping Rose; we can't give up on them before we've even found out whether they're dead or alive. After all, it was hope that made me keep searching for a way back to you, and look what happened. Here I am. So, you see, the impossible can occur sometimes."

Rose smiled at that and squeezed his hand.

They turned down an alley and heard another noise up ahead.

"Oh, great, another cat," Rose said.

The Doctor paused when he saw a huge shadow on the wall up ahead of them.

"No, it's not! Duck!" he hissed at her.

They got behind a skip, just as an armed Kajoran walked into the alley. Rose felt the side of the skip and found a small groove cut into the side. She motioned for the Doctor to back up, and when he did, she pulled on the groove and opened a small door cut into the side.

"Inside," she hissed at the Doctor.

He quickly went in, and she followed him, shutting the door just as the Kajoran reached the skip. The Doctor and Rose crouched down in the rubbish praying that he would pass them by. The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket, brought out his sonic screwdriver, and held it in a ready position, as he stared up at the lid.

"Brax, here."

The Doctor and Rose held their breath when they heard the Kajoran talking to someone.

"Checking in, no sign of any other trespassers besides the one we caught. He might have been the only one."

The Doctor put his hand on Rose's shoulder.

"Well, make sure he is," they heard someone reply to him. "He already shot three of our men dead; we don't need more humans walking around with guns."

"Understood, I'll continue to check for any more humans, and if I find them, I'll send them to the center to be processed with the prisoner."

The Doctor slammed his hand over Rose's mouth when he sensed she was about to cry out. He held her close while he felt her body shaking with silent sobs.

"I'll check in if I find anything else," the Kajoran said. "Brax, out."

The Doctor felt his blood boil, and he fought to restrain himself, as well as Rose. For a moment, they didn't hear anything, and the Doctor thought he had moved on. Then, suddenly, the lid was lifted open, momentarily blinding them both. The Doctor looked up and saw the shocked expression on the Kajoran's face.

"Do you mind, we're making out in here!" the Doctor said.

Then, without warning, he lunged at the Kajoran and gave him an uppercut to the jaw. As he fell back, the Doctor sprang over the top of the skip and quickly disabled his gun with the screwdriver. He grabbed the Kajoran by his uniform and with a roar of rage, lifted him up, and slammed him against the wall.

"WHERE HAS OUR FRIEND BEEN TAKEN?" he bellowed at him. "TELL US, OR I SWEAR I'LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

The Kajoran smirked at him.

"What makes you think I'll tell you, since that's the only thing keeping me alive right now?" he said.

Both of them gasped as Rose lunged at him, grabbed a dagger from a sheath on his belt, and held it to his throat.

"Tell us, damn it, or I'll slit your worthless, lizard throat!" she screamed at him.

"No, let me handle this!" the Doctor said to her.

"No, I want him to die! The bastard helped catch Jack!" Rose said, as angry tears fell down her face. "I'm sick and tired of losing everyone I love to these things! I want him to suffer the way I've suffered!"

She got up in the Kajoran's face.

"Where is he? Tell us!" she yelled.

The Kajoran stared at her for a moment and then a grin spread over his face.

"Wait, aren't you Rose Tyler, the rebel? We've been looking all over for you."

He grunted when the Doctor slammed his back into the wall.

"Yeah, well you and your lot can stop looking for her and everyone else on this planet. Now, unless you want Rose here to gut you like a fish, you will tell us where our friend is at."

The Kajoran grunted when the Doctor slammed his back into the wall again.

"Tell me!" he yelled in his face.

Rose glanced down and noticed the Kajoran pushing a little, red button on his belt. She gasped and grabbed the Doctor's arm.

"Bomb!" she yelled, pointing to it.

The Kajoran laughed, as they sprinted away from him.

"That's right, humans, run! I willingly give my life so that others can find you! Once they hear the explosion, every Kajoran for miles around will be here, so if I were you, I'd find a better hiding…"

The Doctor and Rose lunged forward when the bomb exploded. The Doctor angled his body in mid-air and landed on top of Rose, sheilding her, as debris rained down on them. Both of them got onto their knees and looked behind them at the devastation. Pieces of brick and Kajoran body parts were everywhere, and a small fire was flickering out near the blast site. The Doctor held Rose close, as she wailed.

"Oh God, Doctor, Jack. They got Jack," she sobbed.

"Shh, we'll get him back, but for now we have to get away from here," he said to her. "We'll get back to the TARDIS. It's the safest place for us right now."

Rose was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Rose! Rose, listen, you have to pull yourself together. We have to get out of here, alright?"

Rose swallowed hard and nodded. The Doctor stood and helped her up.

"We'll rescue him, Rose; I swear that on my lives. But, right now, our first priority is keeping ourselves alive, so we can find him. Now, come on, before the rest of the Kajorans show up."

Rose grabbed his hand, and both of them sprinted towards the TARDIS as fast as they could go.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

The Doctor ran with Rose back to the TARDIS. His legs, and his lungs were burning, but he didn't care. Jack had been taken, and the last thing he wanted was for them to end up the same way. He glanced over at Rose and noticed she was barely holding on to her sanity. He knew she was remembering the dream and guilt flooded his mind when he remembered promising her it wouldn't come true. If anything happened to Jack, he'd never forgive himself. He knew that he couldn't die, so that wasn't a worry apart from the fear that they would kill him repeatedly once they found out his secret. The bigger fear was he might end up on a Kajoran dinner plate or driven insane in the mines. Then there was Rose. He hadn't told her he was immortal yet. Frankly, with everything that had been going on, both with her and the invasion, he hadn't found time to do it. But, he knew he had to say something. She deserved to know. He hoped perhaps it would ease her fear a little, if she knew he couldn't die, although, if she was going by the dream, then it wouldn't matter since he had been alive there, just beaten down, and tortured to the point of mindlessness.

They turned into an alley and ran down it. Since Rose was distraught, the Doctor was keeping his eyes and ears open for any signs of movement. He didn't know how many Kajorans were in the area, but he knew that it wouldn't be long until they would fan out across the city, gunning for them, and they needed to be in the safety of the TARDIS way before then. They had to get away from London for the moment, at least, until they could regroup and come back. He hoped Rose wouldn't object to it, especially since he could bring them back a few minutes after they left. He just needed to get her somewhere where she could calm down and get herself under control, and where they could think up a plan of attack in peace.

They ran out of the alley and stopped short when they saw a man in front of him. He wasn't a Kajoran, but the Doctor could sense he wasn't a friend either. He was dressed head to toe in a black leather outfit with a silver skullcap, boots and gloves. He smirked at them.

"Well, well, people who are out of their zone," he said, with a heavy accent on his words.

He stared intently at Rose for a moment, and then withdrew a small silver disk from a pouch hanging off his belt. He pressed a button on it, and they saw a tiny hologram of Rose. He looked at it, and looked at Rose, and his smile widened.

"B…bounty hunter," Rose stuttered.

"Well, well, well, just the one I've been looking for," the man said, coming towards her. "It's my lucky day. I need credits to pay off some gambling debts and retire in style, and thanks to you, Rose, that's gonna happen. Now, you and your friend come with me, and I promise I'll deliver you to the Kajorans in one piece.

Hearing that, Rose lost what little control she had left at the moment. The Doctor flinched when she let out a bone-chilling scream of rage and lunged at him, brandishing the dagger. She fell upon him, and the Doctor watched in stunned silence, as Rose Tyler drove the knife into his chest up to the hilt. Then, she took it out and plunged it in again and again and again, over and over, she mindlessly stabbed the man's corpse, letting all her grief and frustration pour out with each stab of the dagger. The Doctor stood there, unable to move, not believing what he was seeing and then finally, he regained his senses and ran to her.

"Rose! Rose, stop! Stop!" the Doctor said, falling to his knees, and trying to pull her off him.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Rose wailed. "Leave me alone!"

"Rose, stop, the Kajorans will be here any minute!"

"I DON'T CARE! I'M TIRED OF LIVING! I WANT TO DIE!"

Tears fell from the Doctor's eyes, and he tried to grab her arms, and stop the mindless stabbing.

"I want to die. I want to die!" Rose wailed. "I'm tired of living! I'm tired of losing everyone I love!"

The words hit home for the Doctor, and he wept with her, as he finally pulled her off the blood soaked corpse and into his arms. He held her arms out in front of her, half-afraid she would try to stab herself, but Rose dropped the dagger to the ground and fell back into him wailing uncontrollably. The Doctor held her tightly, rubbing her back and stroking her head, as Rose wept and clung to him like a lost child.

"Don't leave me, please don't leave me!" she begged, in a small, pitiful voice.

"I won't, my love, I won't leave. I'm here. I'm here, there's no need to be afraid," he babbled, as he tried everything he could to soothe the woman he loved. "I'm here, I'm here."

He held her tightly while Rose wept. As he held her, he kept glancing around nervously. He looked back down at her.

"My love, we have to go, we have to get back to the TARDIS before the Kajorans get here," he said softly.

"Let them come," Rose sobbed. "I don't want to live anymore. I'm tired of living."

"I know you are, angel, I know you are," the Doctor said, rubbing her back. "But, you have to live, for me and for Jack and for your family that might still be alive. You have to go on for them and for us, no matter how much you feel like giving up. I won't leave you, Rose. I won't let myself get caught. I'm here. Everything will be all right, but we have to leave here, the Kajorans will be here any minute and if they catch us, we'll both suffer the same fate as Jack. You have to be strong, Rose, be strong for me, okay?"

He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt Rose nod, and he helped her to stand. He gasped when she reeled back, and he quickly took her in his arms. He looked down at the mutilated corpse beside him, shuddered, and flashed back to the Time War where he saw hundreds of corpses like this. It brought home just how scarred Rose was, and how much alike they really were. He was glad he had given the gun to Jack. Seeing the damage she did with just a dagger, he shuddered to think of her, out of control with a semi-automatic weapon in her hands. In her grief and unbridled rage, she could have easily turned it on him in a heartbeat. He looked at Rose who was now sobbing quietly while she stared up at the sky. He knew now that it would be a long time before she was truly healed, but he was going to be with her every step of the way until that happened. For the moment though, he had to focus on getting them back to the TARDIS before something else happened. He turned with her and holding her close, he sprinted back to the TARDIS as fast as he could go.

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The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when he finally reached the TARDIS. Nothing else had happened, and they hadn't run into anyone else, which was good because he was pretty sure neither one of them could think clearly at the moment, let alone fight. He helped Rose to stand, opened the door, picked her up and brought her inside.

"Close the door, TARDIS," he said, looking up at the ceiling.

The TARDIS closed the doors and locked them while the Doctor walked over to the captain's chair and laid Rose down onto it.

"Don't leave me," Rose said grabbing his arms.

The Doctor's hearts ached when he saw the desperate look in her eyes. Tears fell down his face, as he leaned over and embraced her.

"I won't leave you, I promise you that, my hearts," he murmured to her. "I'm going to take us away though where we'll be safe."

"No! Jack! Don't leave him!"

"Shhh, We're not leaving him. But, we need to go somewhere where we can both pull ourselves together and come up with a plan. At the moment, we're no use to anyone like this, okay? And with the Kajorans and bounty hunters swarming all over this place, we aren't safe. This is a time machine. I will bring us back a few minutes after we leave, but we need to get somewhere where we can compose ourselves and then come back. Is that alright? Will you let me do that?"

"We…we'll come back for him? For Jack?"

"Yes, my angel, I promise," the Doctor said. "I won't leave Jack behind either. I don't want to leave him behind, but I have to make sure you are calm. You can't keep doing what you just did, Rose, you'll get yourself killed."

"I want to die."

"Rose, please, don't say that," the Doctor begged. "I can't bear hearing you say it."

He stroked her head.

"I know it seems hopeless, Rose, but there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, I promise. Just don't give up on me, and Jack, and the ones you love. Stay with me, and together we'll come up with a solution, alright?"

Rose swallowed hard and laid her hand against his cheek.

"I'm right here, Rose. I'm not leaving you. I'm just going to set some coordinates and take us somewhere where we can take a little breather and think in peace. I put you here, so you can see me and know I'm not going anywhere, alright?"

Rose nodded. The Doctor leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"Keep your eyes on that light, Rose, just keep your hope alive," the Doctor said.

"I'll…try," Rose whispered.

The Doctor nodded. He gave her another tender kiss and stood back up. He walked over to the console and looked behind him. He smiled at Rose, winked, and turned back to the monitor.

"We won't go far, my angel, just to the moon. Get some peace and quiet for a bit, and then we'll return, I promise, alright?"

"Al…right."

The Doctor punched in the coordinates and breathed a sigh of relief when the rotor began its steady rhythm.

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Jack grunted when he was pushed into the chair. He was bruised, bloodied, and beaten. A couple of the Kajorans had worked him over, and tried to interrogate him before bringing him in to be processed. Now, he faced the commander of the Kajorans.

"My men told me you would not tell them where your rebel friends are," he hissed.

"Damn right I won't. I'll burn in Hell before I tell you anything."

The commander chuckled.

"You really think that this act of selflessness will save your friends?" he said. "At this very moment, my troops are rushing toward one of my men, he found some of your friends and sacrificed himself to warn the others of their existence. Now, they are converging on their location. Tell me the location of your rebel headquarters, and I will be merciful to them and to the others. Resist, and they will all suffer, as will you."

Jack hesitated a moment.

"Fine, I'll tell you, just promise you won't hurt them."

"I promise," the commander hissed. "Now, tell me."

Jack glanced down at his torn shirt.

"The location to the rebel headquarters is written on a piece of paper that's in my pocket, go ahead, and take it."

"Excellent, see, our two races can have a civilized conversation when we want to."

He leaned over to look in Jack's pocket. Jack grinned at him, snorted loudly, and spit a huge wad of snot in his face. The commander roared with rage, as he wiped it off him.

"That's all you deserve, you damn lizard! You are sorely mistaken if you think I'm gonna betray any of my friends! Do what you want to me! I'll never tell you a damn thing!"

He grunted when the commander backhanded him across the face.

"Very well, human, you choose your fate, now live with it!"

He nodded to one of his men and chuckled when he picked up the electric razor.

"Enjoy your time in the mines, human. It'll be the last life you ever know."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when the TARDIS powered down.

"Are we on the moon?" Rose murmured.

"Should be," the Doctor replied.

He walked over to the front door, opened it up, and looked out at the tranquil surface of the moon. He looked out at the Earth and sighed, thinking it looked so beautiful and peaceful. From where he was standing, he could see none of the turmoil and damage the Kajorans were causing.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked around at Rose. He stiffened for a moment wondering if she was going to try to run past him and out of the protective force field around the entrance and onto the surface of the moon, but she only stood there staring at the Earth forlornly.

"God, you can't see any of the damage from here," she murmured. "To look at it, you think they never invaded Earth."

She sighed and dropped her arm to her side. The Doctor turned and watched, as she shuffled over to the captain's chair, and sat down. The Doctor closed the doors and walked back to her.

"We shouldn't have come here," Rose said.

"On the contrary, we needed to do this. You need to pull yourself together, Rose. What I just saw horrified me. You may think you have things under control, but you just proved to me how tenuous a grip you have on your sanity. You have been through so much, far too much, and losing Jack was the last straw."

He ran his hand through his hair.

"I don't know if I can even trust you in battle, Rose," he said.

"Doctor, no…"

"Rose, you don't need to be fighting anymore, you need to start healing your mind before you go completely insane. There are machines I can use here on the TARDIS that can help heal your mind, but you have to be put to sleep to do it."

"Doctor, no, I don't want you to fight by yourself. Please, don't do this to me! I won't do what I did to that bounty hunter ever again."

"Rose, you don't have to fight."

"No, I want to fight. It's my fight, Doctor. It's more my fight than it is yours."

"I can't trust you, Rose. You need to rest, and be healed, you can't keep going on fighting and think that it won't damage you further. Trust me, Rose, I know. I never had the opportunity to take a break and heal myself during the Time War. I'm offering you that chance."

"But, what if they catch you?"

"They won't, I won't let them," the Doctor said, taking her hand. "I will be extremely careful. I know I told you earlier it was insane to go into battle alone, but the way you are right now, I'm handicapped anyway. Rose, for the sake of your sanity, you have to let your mind heal, and let me do the fighting. I won't be completely alone, I have the other members of the resistance, and we will recruit more people when we can, but I can't put you out there in the middle of all that fighting, and I'll be damned if I let you go into the mines in your condition and see the horrors you saw a second time."

He stroked her cheek when he saw the tears falling down her face.

"Please, please, let me do this. You don't have to fight anymore, Rose. It's time to step back and let others handle it."

"How long will it take?"

"I'm not sure, Rose, but I can guarantee you it won't be a half hour and then you're up and fighting again. It will take some time for the TARDIS to go through your mind and heal the damage that has been done. Will you let me do it?"

Rose thought for a moment. She didn't want to leave the Doctor to fight on his own, but she knew he was right. She knew she had lost control with the bounty hunter, and she knew she was in no condition to fight alongside the Doctor, especially when he was depending on her to keep calm, and keep a clear head in the heat of battle. She hated to do it, but she didn't see any other choice. She had to take this chance the Doctor was offering her to heal because she might not get another chance like it again.

"Okay, Doctor, I'll go through with it."

She could see the relief on his face and knew a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Thank you, angel," he murmured. "I promise you, you won't regret this."

"I better not, because if I wake up and hear you've been captured, I'm gonna come after you just so I can kick your arse."

The Doctor grinned.

"As long as you go through with this, you can kick my arse all you like," he replied.

He reached over and gathered her into his arms. He smiled at her and walked through the back door towards the med bay.

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Rose lay on a small bed in the med bay and watched quietly while the Doctor attached white foam pads to her temples. He had taken her to her room, so she could get into her more comfortable nightdress before they started.

"Will this hurt?" she asked.

"Nope, you won't feel a thing. You'll be asleep while the TARDIS goes through your mind and heals it. It'll be just like when I went through your mind earlier. You'll be in a deep, dreamless sleep, and when you do finally wake up, you'll feel better than you have in years."

He attached a thick wire to each pad. Rose followed one of the wires with her eyes and noticed it was attached to a black box with several dials and buttons on it.

"This is a diagnostic machine. The TARDIS can use it to find what needs to be fixed and then she can determine how best to heal you," the Doctor said.

He finished attaching the wires, lifted up her head, and put a pillow underneath it.

"Does that need to be adjusted?" he asked.

"A little," Rose said.

The Doctor lifted her head up and adjusted it again.

"Better?"

"Yeah, that's good."

The Doctor kissed her on the lips. He reached down, grabbed a heavy comforter, and brought it up to her shoulders.

"That good?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's good."

The Doctor nodded. He walked over to a nearby table, picked up a syringe, and walked back over to her.

"This will put you to sleep and then the TARDIS will keep you asleep for as long as it takes to heal your mind."

Rose looked at the syringe in his hands and looked up at him.

"Please be careful, Doctor," she begged. "Please don't end up like Jack."

The Doctor smiled.

"I promise I won't let myself be caught. You have my word, Rose. Just don't worry. Knowing that you're away from danger and being healed will allow me to keep my mind on what I have to do. I promise once you are healed, if you still want to fight, I would be honored to have you with me, but until then, sleep, and let your mind rest, so it can finally be free of the eleven years of torment you went through."

He leaned over and kissed her deeply on the lips, thanking Rassilon that she was finally going to be healed at last. He had been so worried about her sanity, and after he witnessed the brutality against the bounty hunter, he knew he had to do something fast before he had to commit her to a mental institution for the rest of her life. It was going to be hard fighting without her, since she knew more about this war than he did, but it would be worth it seeing her sanity restored to her. He finished kissing her and stroked her hair. Then, he pulled back the cover, exposing her arm. She grimaced when he stuck her with the syringe.

"Oh now, Rose Tyler, don't tell me after surviving ten years in the mines and fighting in a rebellion, you are getting squeamish about a needle going in your arm," he teased.

"I can't help it, I've never liked shots," she said. "Give me war, and gore, and bloodshed, I'll take them any day over a bloody needle in the arm."

The Doctor chuckled and withdrew the syringe. He covered her arm and gave her another kiss.

"Sleep, my love, when you wake, your mind will be restored to you."

"I love you, Doctor."

"I love you too, my Rose."

He stood up and laid the syringe back on the table. By the time he turned around, Rose's eyes were closed, and she was already slipping away into a deep sleep. The Doctor smiled tenderly at her. He laid his hand on her head for a moment, then reached up to the box and started the diagnostic machine.

"Take care of her, old girl," he said to the TARDIS. "Please heal her mind, so she can be well again."

The TARDIS rumbled affectionately and nudged the back of his mind. The Doctor took one last look at her before walking over to the door, turning down the lights, and walking out. Letting out a relieved sigh, he walked back to the console room, so he could make preparations to return to Earth and find Jack.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Tom stood guard by the door. It was his turn and he had been standing by the doorway for a few hours waiting for Rose and her friends to return. So far, there had been no sign of them, and he was getting worried.

He spun around when he heard a strange wheezing sound and saw that strange blue box he and Louise had seen earlier materializing in the room. He stared at it in wonder, as the door opened, and the Doctor stepped outside.

"Oh good, I got the location right," he said, looking around.

He smiled at Tom.

"Tommy boy, great to see you again!" he said.

"Doctor? Where are Jack and Rose?"

He noticed the Doctor's eyes darken for a moment.

"Jack has been taken by the Kajorans," he said. "Rose..."

He looked back at the TARDIS.

"Rose is being cared for right now," he said. "She'll be out of commission for awhile."

"How long?"

"I'm not sure, but her mind is finally being healed, and it might take awhile."

"Um…no offense, Doctor, but we're in the middle of a war, and we really need Rose's help."

"No offense, Tom, but Rose just went bonkers and mutilated a bounty hunter right in front of my eyes," the Doctor said angrily. "Her sanity is hanging by a thread, the last thing she needs is to see more carnage and bloodshed. We can get along fine without her, I assure you. She's seen eleven years of hell, and she needs a break, rebellion or no rebellion. Now, have you found out anything new?"

Tom sighed.

"We have intelligence that the Kajorans have rounded up more humans and are preparing to ship them out to Antarctica tonight."

"Where?"

"A processing center several miles out of town."

"Do you know if Jack is among the prisoners?"

"No, we have no idea who they rounded up."

"I'm betting he'll be among them," the Doctor muttered. "We must raid that center before the prisoners are shipped out."

"It'll be tricky. After the last raid, they will be watching for us. Plus, if the bounty hunters have already arrived, they will probably use them as well."

He frowned.

"We heard an explosion earlier, and there was a lot of commotion. Do you know anything about that?"

The Doctor sighed.

"That was a Kajoran blowing himself up after he spotted Rose and me," he said. "He killed himself trying to alert his friends of our location."

"Kajorans are getting desperate," Tom said. "That's the first time I've heard of suicide bombers. They must be really desperate to stop us."

"Good. Perhaps we can use that to our advantage then. If we can keep them busy trying to locate rebels, we might be able to sneak through their defenses and get the drop on them."

"How do we do that?"

"How many are here right now?"

"Five. Me, Louise, Colin, Peter, and Amber."

"Got any explosives?"

"Some, why?"

"Diversionary tactics. We set off a few bombs, create a bit of mayhem, and keep the Kajorans busy while we raid the processing center. The more anarchy we can create, the more troops they will have to send out to stop it, and the fewer men they will have guarding the prisoners. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, we can send out three of our people to separate locations to stir up some trouble," Tom said.

"Excellent, then come with me, I want to meet with all of you and explain my plans. We need to act fast before they ship the slaves off to Antarctica."

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Jack raised his head when he heard the door opening. After he had been tattooed, his hands and feet had been bound, and he had been left in a windowless room. He blinked when the light from the other room hit his eyes, and he looked up, as the commander walked over to him.

He gave him a smug look.

"So, human, ready to tell us where your friends are?" he said.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"We will give you leniency if you help us round up the rest of the resistance."

Jack snorted.

"Go to hell, I won't help you today or any other day. You might as well just ship me off to Antarctica with the rest of the slaves."

"As you wish, but know that I did offer you a chance to save your life," the commander said.

"Yeah, well, I'd rather not save my own life at the expense of others. I have more of a conscience than that, thanks."

The commander walked back to the door and nodded. He stepped aside, as two Kajoran soldiers came in, untied him, and jerked him onto his feet.

"There is a shipment of slaves being sent out tonight, however, you will not be among them. You are too much of a flight risk, and we are concerned your friends will try to rescue you. Therefore, you will be taken on a special flight of your very own. So, feel privileged, human. We don't make this exception for just anybody."

"Gee, I'm touched that I'm special enough to fly first class," Jack said.

The soldiers started to walk him out the room, but the commander put his hand up and stopped them. He walked up to Jack.

"Don't think for one moment that your sacrifice is doing any good. Your friends will be found, and they will be sent to the mines with you. You are only delaying the inevitable."

"As are you," Jack said. "It's only a matter of time before you and your buddies are put out of commission, so if I were you, I wouldn't start celebrating yet."

The commander locked eyes with him and both of them stared at one another for a moment. Each one stared at the other, unflinchingly, and the commander admitted to himself that the mammal was braver than most. He had only met a few who could look him in the eyes without hesitation or fear. The commander wondered if this one was going to be trouble and made a note to tell the foreman to make him into a mind slave if he resisted too much. For the moment though, he was sure they could keep him in check and perhaps after awhile, when his friends didn't come for him, he would settle down and become an obedient slave like the rest of them. He looked at his soldiers.

"Take him away and get him on the ship," he hissed at them.

Jack snorted disdainfully at him, as the guards led him away.

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The Doctor pulled back the door in the wall and walked out into the main area of the house. He had just had a meeting with the other fighters and had worked out a plan of attack. He had gotten the location of the processing center, and it had been decided that he and Tom would wait until Louise, Amber, Colin and Peter would start setting off explosives before taking the TARDIS inside the processing center. After defeating the Kajorans there, they would get the humans inside and take them back to the house. The four rebels were about to leave with their cache of explosives, and the Doctor wanted to check up on Rose before things got too hectic.

He opened the TARDIS doors, stepped inside, and closed them. He made his way back to the med bay and noticed Rose was still sleeping peacefully. He smiled and walked over to her. He checked the diagnostic machine, and his smile widened when he noticed that the TARDIS had managed to heal much of her mind already. He knelt down beside her, reached under the comforter, and brought her hand to his cheek.

"I came to check up on you, angel," he said softly. "It looks like the TARDIS is doing her job. I'm glad. Soon, you'll be back to your old self."

He laid his head next to hers.

"I just wanted to be with you before the raid," he whispered in her ear. "I wanted to make sure you were safe. After I leave this room, I'm going to have the TARDIS close up the entrance just in case something happens, and a Kajoran makes it inside."

He stroked her head.

"If you can hear me, angel, I love you. Nothing will happen to me. I'll rescue Jack, and once you wake up, we'll be together again. And once this war is over with and everyone is safe, we'll take you back to the other universe with us where you belong."

He kissed the top of her head.

"I'll see you later tonight. Sleep peacefully, my Rose."

He gave her one last kiss before rising and leaving the room. He looked at her one more time and smiled, as the TARDIS made the door disappear.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Finally, it was time for the four rebels to leave, so they could set the plan into motion. Each had a black rucksack filled with grenades and sticks of TNT. The Doctor and Tom stood by the TARDIS hugging them and saying their goodbyes.

"Be careful, guys, the sun is starting to set and that should provide some cover, but don't underestimate the lizards or their bounty hunter goons. You are armed as well, I take it."

They nodded and showed them the gun that was tucked into the waistband of their trousers.

"Good, don't hesitate to use it. We've lost enough people in this fight without you four ending up in Antarctica," he said. "And if you see the others, get them involved too, cause as much havoc as you can, so the lizards will stay busy."

"And once you're finished, come back here. Don't try to come and help us," the Doctor added. "We'll be all right on our own."

The four rebels nodded.

"Good luck," Tom said.

The four wished them good luck, then with one last look at them, they turned and headed out the door. When the door closed, Tom looked at the Doctor.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Doctor, if things get out of control, we might need their help."

"No, we'll be fine, trust me, I've battled a lot more with a lot less," he said.

He opened the TARDIS door.

"I need to check up on Rose, can you stay by the door and keep an eye on things? And, when you hear the first explosions, let me know, alright?"

Tom nodded. The Doctor patted him on the shoulder and went inside.

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Rose opened her eyes. She heard a soft beeping coming from the box above her. Briefly, she wondered what it was before struggling to sit up. Once she had finished sitting up in bed, the beeping stopped. She brought her knees up towards her chest and looked around.

"Am I done?" Rose asked the TARDIS.

She smiled when the TARDIS rumbled affectionately. She certainly felt better, felt like a weight had been lifted from her mind that had been there for years. She felt refreshed and rejuvenated, and now she longed to find the Doctor, so she could tell him she was ready to rejoin the fight.

She rose from the bed and teetered unsteadily for a moment before she found her balance. She reached up to her temples, felt the sticky pads that connected the wires, pulled them off, and laid them back on the bed. She started towards the door and stopped short when she realized she couldn't see it. It took her a moment to remember that the TARDIS had the ability to move walls and rooms around, and close up doors.

"The Doctor asked you to do this, didn't he?" she said, glancing up at the ceiling.

The TARDIS rumbled a confirmation.

_He was concerned you might get hurt when he took the TARDIS into the processing center,_ the TARDIS thought to her.

"Are we in the processing center now?"

The TARDIS grunted out a no.

"I gotta find the Doctor then," Rose said, walking towards the door. "Please open the door again."

_There is no need to find the Doctor. He is right outside the door. _

The moment she heard the TARDIS think that to her, the door appeared, and she could see the Doctor's stunned expression, as he stared at her. The shock was quickly replaced by joy, and the Doctor sprinted into the room. Rose ran to him, and grunted when the Doctor caught her in a tight hug.

"Oi, not so tight, I wanna be able to breathe, yeah?" Rose teased. "I don't have a bypass system like you do."

The Doctor let go, but only slightly.

"Oh, angel, you're healed, at last," he sighed, as he laid his head on her shoulder.

"Am I?" Rose wondered aloud.

The Doctor let go a bit more, so he could look at her face.

The TARDIS wouldn't have woken you up if it wasn't finished," he said, running his hand down the back of her head.

He frowned.

"Why do you ask? Don't you feel any different?" he asked.

Rose smiled.

"Yeah, I do, actually. I feel at peace. I don't have tormented thoughts like I used to. My mind feels free."

The Doctor looked like he was over the moon at hearing that. He cupped his face with her hands.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, my Rose," he said. "All I want is for you to be healed, and let go of what was done to you."

Rose nodded. As she looked at him, she suddenly was hesitant to voice her request to fight at his side. She didn't know if the Doctor would let her, so soon after being healed, but she had to try. She didn't want to stay in the TARDIS feeling useless while everyone else put their lives on the line. She took a deep breath, while the Doctor studied her face.

"Doctor, I…"

She hesitated.

"Yes, Rose?"

She swallowed hard.

"I…I want to go back to the battle."

She groaned inwardly when she saw the look on the Doctor's face. She could have sworn she just told him his puppy died.

"Rose, no."

"Please, Doctor, I'm better now. I want to help you."

"Rose, you just woke up. You can't just go right back out. Do you want to damage your mind again?"

Rose sighed.

"Doctor, I want to be a part of this battle. I don't want to sit it out. I love you, and I don't want to see you fight this war alone. I won't go berserk again, I promise. I'm better. I'm healed."

She laid her hand on the side of his face.

"Please, my Doctor, let me fight."

The Doctor put his hand against hers and closed her eyes.

"I want you to ease into this, angel," he said. "So, I will allow you to help, but I forbid you to fight this battle. We are taking the TARDIS into the processing center, and Tom and I will do the fighting. However, we are planning to put the prisoners in the TARDIS and bring them back here to the headquarters. That's where you come in. You can help make them comfortable and calm them down. I'm sure they'll be confused coming in here and seeing the interior, not to mention they'll be in shock from all that's happened. Do that for me this time, and afterwards, you can join in the battles. It's just that you need to still rest even though your brain is healed. Your brain needs to get used to the modifications, and it will take a little time to do that. Will you honor my request and just assist?"

Rose nodded.

"Yes. You're right, I think it's better if I do help with the prisoners. It's just that I'm so worried about you and Tom fighting on your own."

"We'll be alright, I promise," the Doctor said. "We'll be careful. Besides, at this very moment, the other rebels are setting off explosives and giving the Kajorans something to do. Hopefully, that will thin out the ones left at the processing center, and we can be in and out before they know what hit them."

He kissed her forehead.

"Now, why don't you come with me and keep me company, while I input the coordinates for the processing center."

Rose nodded. She took the Doctor's hand in hers, and he gave it a squeeze, as he led her out of the med bay.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tom stood outside the TARDIS waiting for the first explosion that would be their cue to leave for the processing center. As he waited, he heard the Doctor's voice coming from inside the blue box. Then, he heard a familiar voice answering back.

"Rose?" he said.

He opened the door, walked inside and stopped. His mouth dropped open, and he gazed at the console room in awe. He looked over at the Doctor and Rose standing by the console.

"They set off the explosions already?" the Doctor asked.

"Um…no, I just heard Rose, and I thought I'd come inside to see if she was alright."

The Doctor smiled.

"She's perfectly fine. Better than fine. She's her old brilliant self again."

Rose blushed at that.

"This place is incredible," Tom said.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" the Doctor said, with undisguised pride, "she's the greatest ship in the universe."

"But…how does all this fit into a little blue box?"

"Time Lord science," the Doctor replied.

Tom didn't know what that meant, but he had a feeling the answer would be complicated, so he decided to drop the subject. He continued to look around the room and noticed the door at the back.

"How…how big is it?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure. I have never seen all of her. She's constantly growing, and there are many rooms I've never even seen."

"She?"

"Yup," Rose said, "this is a she."

Tom looked at her.

"How are you feeling? Are you alright?"

Rose smiled and nodded.

"The TARDIS healed me. I feel amazing. My mind is at peace, and for the first time in a long time, I'm don't feel depressed and suicidal."

"That's good. I'm glad to hear it," Tom said, "so, are you going to help us then?"

The Doctor glanced at her.

"She's going to assist us in here. She was just healed, and I want to make sure that she's truly alright before she goes back to fighting. When we rescue the prisoners, she'll help get them on board and make them comfortable for the trip back here. She still needs to recover and this way she'll be able to lend us a hand without being directly involved in the fighting."

Tom nodded.

Just then, they heard a distant explosion and the sound of the windows rattling. The Doctor smiled.

"I guess that's our cue to skidoo!" he said, "at last! I was getting stir-crazy sitting here. Be a good man and close the door for us, so we can get going?"

Tom nodded. He shut the door and walked towards the console while the Doctor started the TARDIS up. He stopped and stared at the rotor with fascination, as it began its oscillation. He looked at Rose who was now sitting on the captain's chair. He walked over to her.

"How long did you travel with him?" he asked, sitting down.

"Almost two years," she said, "and, we travelled with Jack for about…a little over three months."

She sighed.

"I hope to God he's alright," she said.

"Don't worry, Rose, we'll get him back," the Doctor said, glancing back at her.

"Now, what I'm going to do is go ahead in time about an hour," he said, looking at them, "by that time, I'm hoping most of the Kajorans will be out of the building investigating the disturbances. With any luck, we'll be in and out before the lizards realize what's happening. Meanwhile, Rose will be waiting and let us and the prisoners in when we get back. The TARDIS can throw up a force field around the outside that'll keep any Kajorans from getting inside or shooting through the door. At the same time, it'll allow us to go in and out without any trouble. Just another of my ship's wonderful tricks."

He glanced down at the monitor.

"Okay, we're almost there," the Doctor said, "you guys ready?"

"I am," Tom said.

"Me too."

The Doctor gave her hand a squeeze.

"Remember, no matter what happens, no matter what you see, don't come after us. You are the one who is the most valuable to them, and I'd rather not see you fall into their hands again. Not after the TARDIS got through healing you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Doctor."

The Doctor smiled and kissed her cheek. He looked over at the door when he heard the TARDIS land and power down. They hesitated a moment, but couldn't hear any surprised yells outside. The Doctor looked at Tom who withdrew his Magnum from his holster and clicked the safety off.

"Be careful, please," Rose said to them.

"We will, Rose, just be on the lookout for us," Tom said.

The Doctor winked at her. Looking at Tom, he nodded and both of them headed towards the door. The Doctor opened the door slowly and looked out. He noticed they were sitting in a corner of the compound, and to his relief, no one was nearby. He looked at Tom.

"All clear, let's go."

They stepped outside and closed the door behind them. Rose sighed.

"Wish I was going with ya, Doctor," she murmured, "I will do what you say, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

She smiled when the TARDIS nudged the back of her mind affectionately, and she rubbed the rim of the console in return. Walking to the front door, she stood by it, listening quietly for the Doctor and Tom's return.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and Tom ducked down behind a crate when they saw a couple of Kajoran soldiers coming towards them. Tom held his gun at the ready while the Doctor fingered his sonic screwdriver in his jacket pocket. Both of them held their breath when they heard the soldiers pass by, but thankfully, they went on their way, unaware that there were intruders. The Doctor took a quick peek over the top of the box and crouched down.

"I don't see anyone else," he whispered, "so far, that's the only Kajorans we've seen, which is a good sign. Hopefully, those will be the only ones we see tonight. Let's get going before our cover is blown."

Tom nodded. He and the Doctor went around the box and hurried on their way, keeping an eye out for the prisoners.

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The Kajoran commander paced nervously in his office. About an hour ago, there had been reports of numerous explosions scattered throughout the city. He had been reluctant to send men out to investigate, smelling a trap, but he had no choice. If there was any hint of rebellion, it had to be crushed before others got any ideas about fighting back. The resistance was bad enough without others joining them. He cursed. Most of his men had been sent to quell the rebellion leaving just a handful to guard the prisoners. He was glad that he had sent Jack on ahead. He had a feeling that the timing of the explosions was no coincidence and he was the one prisoner they could not afford to lose.

No longer able to stand being in his office, he walked outside and headed towards the room where the slaves were being shaved and catalogued. There were about twenty-five of them. Twenty-five more people who would be put to work for the Kajoran empire. All of them serving a more useful purpose than they would have if his people had left them alone. Useless, brain-dead wastes of space. The human race as a whole was so backwards and dim; it was amazing to him that they had managed to muster up enough brainpower to come down out of the trees.

As he neared the processing room, he noticed the handful of humans still standing outside it. All of them whimpering, shivering, and talking in low, fearful voices. Pathetic, just pathetic. Yes, it was good that the Kajorans were now in charge. He had absolutely no respect for this species. The only one who had ever shown any backbone was Jack and Rose Tyler. He smiled. When the human child had been brought to the processing center, he had little idea she would harbor so much strength and resiliency inside her. Oh, she had shown spirit, but he had expected that given the type of work she did. But even he was amazed that she was able to survive ten years working in the mines. No other human had managed to survive that long. She was truly unique and the commander wanted her back in order to brainwash her and put her to work for the empire. A woman like that would prove useful for their cause. She was a fighter and he admired that.

He stopped by the huddling mass of humans and snorted disdainfully at them. He knew he should just pass by them, ignore their whimpering and sniveling, but he was tired of seeing the cravenness that seemed to typify the human race.

"COWARDS!" he bellowed at them, "ACCEPT YOUR FATE WITH DIGNITY INSTEAD OF SHAKING AND SHIVERING. I THOUGHT YOU HUMANS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SUPERIOR TO EVERYONE ELSE! IF YOU ARE, THEN ACT LIKE IT!"

The two guards standing by the door let out hissing laughs at that. The commander stared at the humans who were now even more scared. He hesitated a moment and then lunged forward, roaring at them. He laughed when the humans tried to run away. The two guards ran in front of them and pointed their guns in their faces, halting their escape.

"GET BACK IN LINE, APES!" one of the guards screamed.

They all laughed when the humans obeyed.

"See," the commander said, gesturing to them, "as docile as Earth sheep. No wonder we have been able to take over so quickly. I…"

He paused when a teenage boy suddenly ran from the crowd, sprinting towards a pile of crates. One of the guards took off in pursuit while the other guard quickly ran up to the rest.

"TRY ANYTHING, AND YOU WILL DIE WHERE YOU STAND!" the guard bellowed at the terrified captives.

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The young boy ran for his life across the center, gasping and panting, as he tried to outrun the guard. Luckily, for him, he had been on the track and field team in school and had won several trophies in meets, but even so, he was having trouble losing the guard. He was relieved that the guard hadn't fired on him, but he knew that it was probably a matter of time until he got frustrated and decided to kill him rather than keep up the pursuit.

He made a beeline for the crates, figuring he could lose the guard behind them and have some cover if he did decide to shoot. Reaching them, he tore around the corner and stopped short when two men grabbed him. The older, thinner one slapped his hand on the young man's mouth, silencing his terrified yell. He walked him away towards the middle of the crates, as the other one pointed his gun at the end. The thin man held the teenager in his arms, and they watched as the Kajoran ran around the corner and stopped in his tracks.

"You know," the man with the gun, said, "if I didn't know any better, I think you were bothering our friend here."

Before the lizard could react, he smacked him on the head with the butt of the gun. The Kajoran fell to the ground stunned, and the man hit him in the face, knocking him unconscious. As he fell to the ground, the man raised his gun to shoot.

"No, don't do it. You'll alert the others," the thin man cautioned.

The man nodded and lowered his gun. The teenager looked up at the thin man who was smiling warmly at him.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor, and this is Tom. Who are you?"

"B…billy."

"Well, Billy, it's nice to meet you," the Doctor said, "and now that we've formally met, we'd be grateful if you would help us rescue the other prisoners. How 'bout it?"

Billy thought for a moment and nodded. The Doctor beamed.

"Excellent. Then, follow us, and we'll tell you what to do."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Kajoran commander narrowed his eyes, as he eyed the stack of crates in the distance. He hadn't heard any noises, and his guard hadn't appeared with the captive yet. He glanced at the other prisoners who were gesturing to the crates and talking softly amongst themselves.

"Silence!" he roared at them.

The chattering ceased immediately. He looked at the guard who was staring at him.

"Should I go check and see if Jor'na is alright?" he said.

"No, Skek'sis, stay here," the commander, said, "I will get someone else to check."

Skek'sis nodded and turned his attention back to the humans, as the commander walked over to the processing room. He was about to open the door when the guard let out a yell.

"Wait, commander, I see the human!"

He turned and noticed Jor'na wasn't behind him.

"Where is the other guard? Why is the human alone?" he demanded.

"Oh, I think that has something to do with us."

The commander stared at the two men who came out from behind the crates and stood behind the teenager. Rage began to cloud his mind when he realized what was going on.

"Rebels!" he screamed, "attack them!"

The guard aimed his gun at Tom, but he quickly felled him with a bullet to the head. The captives panicked at that and started to run away.

"Can you deal with the lizards? There's something I need to do," the Doctor said.

"Yes, Doctor. Billy and I can handle them. Go on and do what needs to be done."

The Doctor nodded. He ran after the terrified captives while Tom shot at the commander, and Billy ran to retrieve the gun from the dead guard. Tom shot at the Kajorans who were coming out of the processing room, providing cover for Billy. Billy reached the guard, grabbed the gun, and shot the guards who were coming out of the room. Tom turned his attention back to the commander and cursed when he saw he had disappeared.

"Coward!" he said, disdainfully.

He focused his attention back on the processing room. He glanced at Billy, a look passed between them, and he and Billy barged in, looking for the rest of the captives.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, the Doctor had managed to catch up to the captives, as they were fleeing towards the exit. They yelled when he ran in front of them. The Doctor held up his hands.

"Wait, please, we're here to help!" he said, "I'm the Doctor, and I can lead you to safety if you'll just follow me."

The captives looked at each other.

"Where?" a middle-aged man, with thinning brown hair, asked.

"Follow me; I'll lead you to it."

The Doctor ran towards the TARDIS, and the captives followed him.

Suddenly, a couple of guards rounded a corner and made a beeline towards them. The captives screamed and started to run back the other way.

"NO!"

Everyone on both sides froze at that.

"You have to make a stand. Please help me!" the Doctor implored, "We outnumber them, and we can defeat them if we all work together."

Both sides stood and stared at the Doctor, amazed that someone actually had the courage to stand their ground. The guards quickly got over their shock and ran towards the captives. The prisoners watched, as the Doctor turned and ran back towards them holding the screwdriver in his hand. Then, the man who had spoken up earlier turned and looked at the others.

"The man is right. We outnumber these bloody lizards! Let's get em!"

The captives let out an enraged yell and ran towards the guards. The guards stopped short, shocked to see the other humans fighting back. They aimed their guns at them, but the Doctor quickly disabled them with the screwdriver. The Kajorans tried to fire on the humans, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the mob. They knocked them down, hit, and kicked them unmercifully. The Doctor allowed it to go on for a moment before finally stepping in.

"Wait! Stop! That's enough!"

"No! They must die!" the man screamed, "they killed our friends and family. They must die for what they did."

No!"

The Doctor's yell startled the captives who fell silent and stared at him in shock. The Doctor bent down next to the man.

"What's your name?"

"Ben."

"Ben. Nice name. Nice to meet you. Ben, I understand your anger and trust me, the Kajorans will get what is coming to them, but we need a couple of them alive to find out what they know. We need to know how many processing centers, freezers, and mines there are, so we can destroy them and liberate your loved ones."

"Ben and the others nodded. They got up, and the Doctor quickly checked the guards. They were bruised and bloodied, but still alive. He stood up.

"Follow me, I will take you to my TARDIS where my friend, Rose, will help make you comfortable and get you something to eat and drink. Now, I need some of you to carry these guards back with us, so I can imprison them on my ship."

Ben nodded. He and six other men in the group walked over and picked up the guards.

"Good, now follow me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After leading the humans to the TARDIS, Rose helped them inside, got them situated in the den and bedrooms, and led Ben and the men back to the holding cells while the Doctor ran back to help Tom and Billy.

By the time he got there, he learned that the last of the Kajorans had been killed or subdued by Tom and Billy. They had also found the remaining captives. Except for the shaved heads and prisoner tattoos, they were unharmed. The Doctor gave them a once over and his hearts sank when he didn't see Jack among them.

"Is that all the captives?" he asked Tom.

"Yes. We found them in a room just off the one where they were shaving and tattooing them. We got out all the ones we found in there."

The Doctor turned to the former captives.

"Were any of you taken from the room once you were put in there?" he asked, "was there a man who was taken from the room?"

He cursed when everyone shook their heads.

"They must have figured we would come back for Jack and moved him early," he said to Tom, "he wasn't in the other group either."

The Doctor sighed.

"We'll worry about that later. Right now, we have to get these people on the TARDIS and get out of here before the other Kajorans return."

He smiled at the liberated prisoners.

"Come with us, we'll take you to safety," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Toby smiled at the former captives, as he looked around the meeting room. This had been a good day. Everyone had made it back alive from their respective missions, Rose was better now, and there were twenty-five liberated prisoners standing around the room watching him quietly. Finally, a day where everything had gone right.

"Good job, everyone," he said, "I'm glad everyone is safe, and all of you were rescued unharmed. In addition, we have two captives of our own that we can interrogate. Now, we will escort any of you who want to go into hiding to a safe house out in the country if that's what you want to do."

"May I speak to them first before you do that?" the Doctor said.

Toby nodded. The Doctor cleared his throat and stood up.

"I'm also glad you are all safe, and I understand how you must feel after your ordeal and how anxious you are to get to safety. But, I want to give you another option. You see, we need your help. I defeated two guards tonight with the help of some of your fellow captives. Working together, we overwhelmed the guards and knocked them unconscious. It's because of that act of heroism that we have these Kajoran guards in custody. Humanity has been running from them for far too long. It's time to do what we did tonight, turn and make a stand. The resistance is barely hanging on. Only a handful of brave people remain. We need your help before it is crushed completely. Please, I'm asking you, don't let the Kajorans run the human race into extinction. Help us stop them once and for all. Fight at our sides. Fight for your freedom. It will be dangerous, but I believe it is better to die fighting than to wait and be picked off one by one. We not only need you, but others like you, anyone who will join. We need to recruit as many as we can. Fight back and reclaim the Earth. So, I am asking those who are willing to stay and fight to raise their hands. There is no pressure to join. We welcome any who are brave enough to stay and become rebels. Now, show of hands, all those who wish to join us.

He smiled when Billy and everyone who had been in his group raised their hands without hesitation. Ben looked over at the shaved men and women who were looking at one another.

"Come on, fight!" Ben said to them, "the Doctor's right. We've been hiding for far too long. We can't let this rebellion die. Do the right thing and join."

The shaved humans put their hands up. The Doctor beamed, proud of all of them.

"Thank you," he said, gratefully.

The other fighters were ecstatic.

"Alright, I guess that saves us a drive into the country then," Toby said, "welcome aboard, everyone. My name is Toby and if we go around the room and introduce ourselves, we can get down to business and figure out what our next plan of attack should be."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Doctor walked back to the TARDIS. He wanted to be a part of the interrogation and he had something that might help the rebels out. He had some truth serum in his laboratory. It worked the same as sodium pentothal, except it was stronger and more effective. Lives were on the line, including Jack's. He knew the captives would be reluctant to disclose information and he didn't want to wait. The rebellion had to get underway before the Kajorans had a chance to recover.

He entered the TARDIS and noticed Rose was sitting by herself on the captain's chair.

"Rose? Are you alright?" he asked.

Rose looked at him. He could tell she had been crying.

"Oh, Doctor, we didn't rescue Jack," she said, softly.

The Doctor swallowed hard. He walked over and sat down beside her.

"We'll get him back, Rose. I promise."

"What are they doing to him now?"

The Doctor embraced her.

"Just…try not to think of that, Rose. If you start that, you'll drive yourself crazy thinking of all the different scenarios," he said gently, "Jack is a strong guy. He can hold out until we come to get him. Just don't worry. They're going to be interrogating the captives and they'll ask them where Jack went. If they tell them, that'll be the first place we go to."

He paused, unsure how to say what he wanted to say to her. He had a notion swirling around in his brain since the meeting. An idea that he knew would upset Rose, but if their rescue mission was going to be a success, it had to be done. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him.

"Rose, there's something else," he said.

Rose looked at him, waiting for him to go on. The Doctor sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Rose, I've been thinking. If we are going to rescue Jack from the mines, we're going to have to blend in. If we're gonna have any chance of getting him and everyone else out without the Kajorans killing us, we're…"

He hesitated a moment.

"We have to look the part, Rose. Which means that'll you'll have to shave your head again…and so will I."

The Doctor saw the horror etched on her face and he knew exactly what was going through her mind.

"Rose it's not going to be like your dream. I won't be a mind slave and I won't kill you. I don't like this any more than you do. I don't like upsetting you and the last thing I wanna do is remind you of your dream. But, if we are going to infiltrate these mines and be able to successfully liberate the captives, we have to look like we belong there."

He put his hands on her face.

"I'm going to let you go with me this time, Rose, because I need your knowledge of the mines. But, if it's too painful for you, you can opt out now."

"No, I want to go with you."

"Then certain things have to be done. We can't waltz in there looking like we do now; we'll be captured on the spot. I promise you, we will stick together as much as possible and if it looks like we might be caught, we'll leave and go back to the TARDIS. So, are you with me?"

"Yes."

"You sure?"

Rose nodded.

"I want to save Jack and the others. I'll do whatever it takes to rescue them, including putting up with you having a shaved head."

"Hey, don't think I'm happy with it, because I'm not," the Doctor said, "I never thought I would ever take an electric razor to my gorgeous locks, but if it means we get Jack back and stop their mining operations, I'll do it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack grunted when a Kajoran forced him to his knees. They were outside one of the mines. He was now clad in only a loincloth and was shivering uncontrollably from the intense cold, a fact that amused the seven Kajorans standing around him.

"Welcome to Antarctica, human," one of the Kajorans said, "I am Shis'ta, the foreman. But, of course, you will refer to me only as master. That is, if you speak to me at all."

He knelt down beside Jack and feigned concern.

"What's wrong, little mammal? Cold not to your liking?" he purred, "well, soon you will be inside where it's nice and warm."

"You won't get away with this," Jack said, through chattering teeth, "my friends will come for me and shut your little party down."

The Kajorans hissed out laughter. Shis'ta grabbed Jack by the chin and forced him to look into his yellow eyes.

"Your friends will never find us, mammal. And even if they get lucky and do, not only will we stop them, but they will end up beside you sweating for the Kajoran empire in the mines. So, if I were you, I'd just abandon all hope of rescue right here. That way you can assimilate into the population more smoothly."

Jack spat in his face. He grunted when Shis'ta slapped him in return.

"You are a fool, just like the rest of your pathetic race!" he growled at Jack, "no wonder we subjugated your kind so quickly. Human beings were born to be a slave race!"

"I think you'll find that humans aren't as pathetic as you think," Jack replied, "if you are so great, then how come you haven't managed to exterminate everyone by now."

An evil smile spread over Shis'ta's face.

"Because, believe it or not, we still have need of you. We need the resources of this planet and we are not about to harvest it ourselves, not when we have beasts of burden at our disposal. And, that's what you are now, mammal, a beast that will labor for us and serve the empire for the rest of your life. So now, it's time for you to enter and earn your keep."

He stood up and looked at the Kajoran beside him.

"Take him away and make sure he is well guarded. They wouldn't have sent him alone if there hadn't been a good reason."

The Kajoran nodded. He and another guard grabbed Jack, hoisted him to his feet, and forced him to enter the mine.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor put down the electric razor and looked at his handiwork. Rose's head was now completely bald. He swallowed, staring at the prisoner tat on the back of her head. He felt rage threaten to overtake him while he ran his finger across it. His hearts ached knowing that Jack now wore a similar one. Guilt flooded his being and he began to beat himself up inside. If only he had gotten to Jack sooner. If only he had found a way to get back to Rose after he had said goodbye to her. If only he had found a way to prevent her going over the void in the first place. He shook his head. He could stand here all night and do this, but there was no time for self-recrimination now. They had a job to do. He squeezed Rose's shoulder and she stood up. He handed the razor to Tom and sat down in the seat. Rose didn't want to be the one to shave the Doctor's head, it was too painful for her, so Tom volunteered. The Doctor took Rose's hand and squeezed it while Tom turned on the razor and began to shave his head. He ran his hand up her arm and rubbed it, comforting her, while she stared at the huge clumps of hair that were falling to the floor around him.

"Look at this way, Rose, you'll get to see if there are any imperfections on my beautiful, bald head," he quipped.

Rose didn't answer back and the Doctor sighed sadly, looking at the anguish in her eyes.

As Tom finished shaving him, the door opened and Billy and Ben stuck their heads in. With them was a raven-haired teenage girl named Simone.

"Doctor, can we talk to you?" Billy asked.

"Sure, come inside, we're just finishing up here."

The three rebels entered the room and closed the door.

"Um…Doctor, we've been talking," Billy said, "we want to go with you."

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other.

"You don't have to," the Doctor said.

"Yes, we know, Doctor," Ben said, "but, we want to help free the other captives. The others are going to go back to the quadrants and try to get others to join and that's great, but we want to help you two."

"You need more than two people, Doctor," Simone said, "please, let us help."

"You guys realize how dangerous it'll be," Tom said.

"Yes," Ben said, "and all of us accept the risk. We just want to come along and help."

The Doctor glanced at Rose.

"What do you think, Rose?"

Rose looked at them.

"If you go with us, then do as we say," she said, "the Doctor and I have handled stuff like this in the past. The last thing we want is for you three to get killed. If we let you do this, you have to promise to listen to us and do exactly what we say, okay?"

"Yes," the three of them said in unison.

The Doctor gave them a proud smile.

"Thank you so much," he said, "Rose and I both appreciate this."

"It's the least we can do, Doctor, after you and Rose saved us," Billy replied, "we just want to turn around and help others now."

The Doctor grinned from ear to ear.

"See," he said to Rose and Tom, "this rebellion does have a hope of succeeding now."

He looked at them.

"Okay, just let Tom finish putting numbers on the back of my noggin and then it'll be your turn in the barber's chair."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Finally, the task was done and five freshly shaved people stood together at the back of the meeting room listening with the other rebels while Toby told them what had happened with the interrogation.

"The Doctor's truth serum worked. They told us the locations of several mines along with the processing centers and the freezers," he said.

He glanced at the Doctor and Rose.

"However, neither one knew where your friend went. Only the Commander of the Kajoran and his inner circle know that."

Rose sighed. The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"We know where several of the mines are now. We'll just start freeing them and if Jack isn't there, we'll give the truth serum to the Kajorans we capture and see if they know where he was taken. At least, the locations are a start."

Rose nodded.

"I just hope it doesn't take a long time to find the right one," she said. "If they know that Jack is with us, then I'm sure they're beating and torturing him while he's being forced to work."

"Yes, but once again, Jack has experience with that. He knows how to handle that kind of treatment. He'll hold out until we get there."

He looked at Toby.

"Do you have a list of these locations that we can go by?"

"Yes, we've made two separate lists. A lists of the mines in Antarctica for you, and the processing centers and freezers for us."

"Splendid, and hopefully we can find more people willing to join the cause and that will bring down these places faster. We need to strike fast before the Kajorans realize what's going on and tries to stop us, or even worse, calls in more troops from their home world. That is something we can't allow. We're at a disadvantage now, without them increasing their ranks."

"We've been talking," a fair-haired rebel woman said gesturing to her fellow rebels. "I think we can recruit others. I know most of my family will be eager to join up and I have friends that will want to help too."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Excellent," Toby said. "Then, that will be your job. Everyone who just joined and aren't going with the Doctor and Rose will slip back into your quadrants and secretly recruit others. But, make sure the people you talk to are trustworthy. We have enough problems without having traitors in our midst. And I'm sure the Kajorans will turn some humans against us in exchange for special privileges or freedom for them and their families. So just be mindful of that."

The rebels nodded. Toby looked at the Doctor.

"That's all we could get out of them, Doctor. Now, I'm not sure what to do with them. We can't set them free."

"Leave that to me. I have a couple of escape proof cells on my ship that I can put them in. Perhaps I can even get them to tell us a bit more about their overall mission and purpose on Earth. But, at least, I can put them where they won't be a threat to us. I have some knockout gas I will use on them. Then, once they are out, we can take them back to the TARDIS. Just let me get the capsules and then show me where they are."

Toby nodded.

"This meeting is at an end, then. Get the capsules and come back here, and I will show you where they are."

The Doctor nodded. He glanced at his team and they followed him out the door.

"I need all of you to come with me. I'm going to get the knock-out capsules. Then I want you to wait while I use them on the Kajoran because I will need help taking them back to the cellblock. After that, we're going to leave for Antarctica."

He turned and looked at the three newcomers.

"You absolutely sure you want to do this?" he asked them.

All of them nodded without hesitation.

"Okay, then let's get this show on the road."

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After Ben, Billy, and Simone got over their initial shock of the TARDIS, the Doctor led them and Rose back to his laboratory. Ignoring his friend's dropped jaws as they looked around the room, he walked over to a metal cabinet, opened it, and knelt down. He grabbed two tiny red capsules from a metal container, stood back up, and closed the doors.

"Follow me, gang," he said.

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Toby led them down a corridor to a heavy wooden door.

"This leads to the basement," he said. "That's where they're being held."

The Doctor nodded. He glanced back at his companions.

"Stay here, I'll get you when I'm ready."

Toby stepped aside while he opened the door, turned on the light and went downstairs. He looked around when Toby shut it behind him and wrinkled his nose at the musty smell. He walked down the wooden steps, listening to the thud his converse made with every step. Halfway down, he saw the two guards. They were sitting in the corner, chains binding their arms and legs together. They glared at him when he sauntered the rest of the way down and walked over to them.

"Evenin' gentlemen," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Hope my friends weren't too hard on ya. Hate to use truth serum on anyone, but you know, you guys aren't exactly forthcoming about your activities, and we're kinda pressed for time, so we had to be rude and make you talk without your permission. Hope you don't hold it against us, we really are a bunch of nice blokes. It's true we're not above violating the rights of defenseless Kajorans in order to free our friends and family and that's a very naughty thing to do, but on the other hand, we know how to have a good time. You should see our annual pool party. It is a blast. Throw a few ribs, burgers, and bangers on the grill, jump into the swimming pool and party all night long. So, come on, why not come over to our side? We also have a fantastic Christmas party and a stellar health insurance plan."

"Who are you?" one of the guards said.

"I'm the Doctor, you?"

"I am Rrsssta."

"Nice to meet you Rrsssta, and how about you, what's your name?"

The other guard gave him a defiant look.

"I am Gis'sick."

"Yeah, you're sick all right. Sick in the head," the Doctor said under his breath. "Well, nice to meet both of you. Sorry, we couldn't meet under more agreeable circumstances, but you and your little friends decided to invade this planet and if it's one thing I can't stand, it is people who are trying to subjugate others for their own benefit. So, naturally, I just had to step in and stop you. Course, you two aren't that high up on the totem pole, but it's a start."

"You have some guts, human," Rrsssta said. "No human has dared challenge the Kajoran Empire before."

"Well, that's the thing, I'm not human."

The guards glanced at each other.

"What are you then?" Gis'sick said.

"I'm a Time Lord."

"I have never heard of…Time Lords," Rrsssta said.

"Well, that's because we're only found in one universe," he said. "But, trust me, when I get through freeing this planet, you and your friends will know me very well. But…the whole familiarity breeds contempt jazz will come later. Right now, it's beddy-bye time. So, night, night, little lizards."

He took his hand out of his pocket, stopped breathing, threw the capsules on the floor, and stomped on them. Both of them broke apart with a loud CRACK and black colored gas began to seep out.

"You will never defeat us, Time Lord!" Gis'sick said, trying to wriggle out of the chains.

The Doctor stood in front of them and listened while the rattling of the chains died down and became silent. Slowly, the gas dissipated and the Doctor could see the Kajorans slumped against each other with their heads touching.

"Aw, isn't that sweet! They look so cute when they sleep," the Doctor said. "Well, much as I'd love to stay and take a picture of the sleeping beauties, duty calls."

Turning, he switched off his respiratory bypass system and walked towards the stairs.

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Twenty minutes later, the Kajorans were secured in separate cells on the TARDIS and the Doctor was standing at the console punching in the coordinates for the first location on the list. Beside him was Rose, Ben, Billy, and Simone.

"Well, gang, the coordinates are entered, and we are on our way. Operation Save the Slaves is a go. At last, we're gonna get our fellow humans out of the hell they're in and take back what's ours…or yours, I guess. I'm just a good Samaritan in all this."

He smiled while he watched the rotor move up and down. Finally, after all this time, they were making some real progress with the rebellion. He only hoped that the luck they had in the processing center would hold out in the mines.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Rose stood in the console room watching while the Doctor piloted the TARDIS to Antarctica. Ben, Billy and Simone stood nearby still looking around at everything in awe and watching the rotor while it oscillated up and down in the central column. It only took a moment for them to reach their destination and then the TARDIS landed and powered down.

Rose glanced at the Doctor and felt a stab at her heart when she saw the shaved head and the fake tattoo on the back of his head. She hated that he had to go to extreme measures just to infiltrate the Kajoran mines and she cursed them for invading and getting him and Jack involved in all this. All of them were wearing loincloths with a heavy fur padded white winter coat over it and special white furry snow shoes on their feet so they wouldn't freeze to death walking to the first mine. The Doctor had to park the TARDIS some distance away so they wouldn't be detected which meant all of them had to brave the extreme cold to get there. Before they left he ordered them to put a special clear gel on their exposed body parts that would protect them temporarily from the punishing weather.

The Doctor looked around at his allies.

"Ready?" he said.

They nodded. The Doctor looked at Rose.

"Ready?" he asked her pointedly.

She nodded and swallowed hard when he took her hand in his and they walked towards the door. He opened it and all of them except the Doctor gasped when a blast of cold wind hit their face. He squeezed Rose's hand and all of them headed outside. Everyone except the Doctor shivered. He closed the door behind them and patted the side of the ship before taking Rose's hand and leading the way.

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It turned out that they had landed about a mile from the first cave. They could see up ahead through the swirling snow a couple of Kajoran guards who were wearing protective full body gear while they stood guard. They were special rubber suits that kept their cold blooded body temperature regulated. The suits were red with little black amber lenses for their eyes which made them look even more alien and made them stick out like a sore thumb in the white, snowy surroundings.

They kept to the snow drifts and hills trying not to be seen. The white coat and shoes helped them to blend into their surroundings but the Doctor knew it was better to be safe than sorry.

Finally, after about an hour they reached a snow drift next to the mine's entrance. The two Kajorans were standing guard but they weren't looking their way. The Doctor looked at them and looked back at Ben and Billy. He hunched down next to them.

"I have some more sleeping gas capsules," he said to them. "I'm gonna knock them out and then I want you to put on their body suits and pretend to be them so we'll have someone at the entrance."

They nodded.

"Simone, I want you to stay by the bodies. If they start to wake up, I want you to knock them out again. I have a bunch of gas capsules you can use on them but when you do use them, stomp hard on them to release the gas and then get clear or you'll join them in sleep. Just do whatever you can to keep them incapacitated so they don't alert the others, got it?"

"What about you?"

"Rose and I are gonna go inside, find Jack and free the others."

"Don't you need some of the capsules then?" Simone asked.

He shook his head.

"No, that's too risky. You need every last one because who knows how long we're gonna be in there. They have weapons and tools down there we can defend ourselves with so don't worry about us. Just take care of yourselves and we'll meet you out here, hopefully with Jack and the others."

They nodded. The Doctor reached into his pocket, pulled out a sack that was filled with the capsules and grabbed two of them. He handed the bag to Simone.

"Wait here, all of you. I'm gonna lay low some lizards," he said.

They hunched down behind the snow drift while the Doctor stood up and walked out towards the guards.

"Evening, all!" he said, waving at them.

He grinned when the lizards turned and froze in shock.

"Hi, I'm just wondering how do you get to Pudsey? I was on a walking tour of England and I guess I took a wrong turn somewhere and now I'm hopelessly lost. Can you blokes assist me?"

The lizards looked at each other, withdrew their blasters and ran towards him yelling at him to stop.

"You're not gonna help me then?" he said, shrugging.

He tensed and waited until they stopped a few feet away and raised their blasters. Using his aikido skills he did a roundhouse kick and smacked his foot into their wrists knocking both blasters away. He sprung forward and knocked one out with a swift karate chop to the neck. The other one yelled and lunged at him but he grabbed him around the neck and cricked it sending him into an unconscious state along with his friend. He took the capsules, dropped them and stomped hard while he switched to his respiratory bypass system.

The intermittent wind blew some of the gas away but not before it affected the captives. The others ran over when it was safe to breathe and dragged the captives behind the snow drift. They quickly stripped them of their suits and Ben and Billy put them on while Simone crouched nearby and kept an eye on them. Once they had the suits on, the Doctor and Rose quickly stripped down to the loincloth and left them with Simone before they hurried to the entrance. The Doctor peeked inside but there were no other Kajorans around and Ben and Billy quickly took the positions of the guards while the Doctor and Rose snuck inside towards the lift.

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Thankfully, no Kajorans were around the lift when they came down and both of them stepped out into the hell that was the mines. The Doctor shuddered when he saw it. It was even worse looking at it firsthand than it was when he looked at Rose's memories. He glanced at Rose and noticed the anguish on her face and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Be strong for me now, angel," he said to her.

Rose nodded and squeezed his hand back. Both of them moved quietly through the shadows searching for any sign of Jack. They didn't see him but what the Doctor did see was horrifying to him. Dozens of poor souls who were digging with blank, lifeless expression on their faces. Most of them had whip marks crisscrossing their backs which enraged the Doctor and made him want to take a whip and do the same in return to their lizard captors. Occasionally a Kajoran would pass near them and they quickly pretended to work in case they were spotted. But they were never stopped and questioned and they moved deeper into the mine. On the way, they spotted two empty baskets lying by an entrance. They picked them up so they would look busy and adopted the same blank looks on their faces as the people around them while they made their way through the tunnels.

They walked through one entrance and the Doctor's hearts stopped when he saw the people smelting the gold. The image of the person committing suicide in the furnace came flooding back into his consciousness and he prayed that another person wouldn't do the same thing while they were standing there. No one did, although the Doctor didn't blame them if they did since he could tell every single person was in torment. The whole thing was just one long continuous waking nightmare and the Doctor was even more amazed now that Rose hadn't lost it completely when she was enslaved. He glanced at her but as far as he could tell she was okay. She had the same tormented look on his face as he did but she didn't look like she was going to go over the edge like she did with the Kajoran she stabbed and he silently thanked the TARDIS for restoring her mind.

They moved away from the furnace and went even deeper into the mines. Here it was complete darkness lit only by the dim light of lanterns hanging on pieces of wood jammed into the dirt walls.

"I've never been down this far before," Rose said to him. "They have people digging fresh tunnels down here, further and further down from the surface in search of gold nuggets."

"We haven't seen Jack yet. Maybe this is where they put him," the Doctor replied. "As far from the entrance as they could get him."

"I hope he's alright, Doctor."

"He will be, Rose. Just keep that hope alive."

She nodded and they squeezed each other's hands while they went further and further down beneath the surface of Antarctica. They could barely see by the lantern light and the tunnels were claustrophobic. It was hard to breathe and Rose had to stop more than once to get her breath before proceeding. Holding the baskets in front of them they looked like they belonged there and the few Kajoran they saw didn't stop them or say anything other than to bark out an order to work faster.

When they were nearly a mile under the surface the Doctor saw a familiar face glowing in the lantern light while he worked beside it. He could tell Rose also saw him from the little gasp she gave and they slowed their pace and looked around making sure no Kajorans were around before they walked over to their friend. Jack was working mindlessly with a pick and there were a few whip marks on his back along with a few bruises but other than that, he looked unharmed. The Doctor moved close to him.

"Work, slave! What do I pay you for?" he said softly.

Jack jerked his head around and a smile spread over his face when he saw him and Rose.

"Knew you'd make it here," he said.

He stared at their shaved heads.

"Oh God, they got you too."

"No, we did this so we could blend in," the Doctor said.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

"Doctor, you have to be careful. They're looking for you and Rose."

He paused.

"Course I think they're looking for you with a full head of hair," he said softly.

"Well, we're not about to go down without a fight," the Doctor said.

Jack nodded.

"Figured as much. But what are you gonna do?"

"Revolt. All these people here have pickaxes. They outnumber their Kajoran masters probably 10 to 1. We need to rally them so they can fight."

Jack nodded. He looked around and then headed over to a small group of people digging the tunnel.

"Everyone, listen to me," he said.

The others hesitated a moment and then resumed digging.

"Listen, we need to fight our way out of here. This man back here, he's called the Doctor and he's come to save us. He has a ship that can take all of us to safety but we all need to band together and fight for our freedom."

The other slaves stopped working and looked at him this time.

"These two have come to free us but he can't do it alone," Jack said. "They need our help. All of us have weapons. We need to be courageous and take back the planet from these bastards. It's time for us to reclaim what's ours and kick the lizards off our home world. Are you with me?"

They all nodded.

"Good, now go and fight and alert the others. Rally them to our cause. Let's go now and teach those bastards a lesson about messing with the human race."

The captives yelled in rage and rushed back up the tunnel with their pickaxes. Jack rushed over to the Doctor and Rose and they followed them up while the captives yelled and called out for others to join them. One Kajoran foreman tried to jump in front of them and aimed his blaster at the crowd but he was quickly felled when someone's pickaxe connected with his head. He fell to the ground, dead, and the others tread on his corpse while they headed back up the tunnel.

As they went upwards towards the surface, others stopped working and joined them so by the time they reached the furnace room there were about thirty of them howling and screaming their rage. The others around them turned in shock and when they saw what they were doing they began to fight the foreman and mind slaves who tried to beat and whip them into submission. One foreman drew his blaster but Jack quickly felled him with a fist to the face and they went on. The whole cave became chaotic when word quickly spread of the rebellion and the slaves turned on their masters and their human puppets and knocked them out or killed them. The Doctor, Jack and Rose assisted in any way they could, knocking out Kajorans or mind slaves who tried to kill the insurgents.

"Jack, there's two guarding the entrance," the Doctor said to him. "They're dressed like the Kajoran guards but they're with us. I want you and Rose to get up there and protect them before this frenzied mob kills them too."

Gotcha! Come on, Rose, follow me!" he said.

They quickly ran around the mob towards the entrance. The Doctor meanwhile looked around trying to find a Kajoran before the crowd killed every last one of them. He needed one alive for questioning. He noticed one that the crowd was pulling in all directions and he ran to them before they tore him limb from limb.

"No! Leave him be, I need one alive so we can find out where the other mines are," he said to them.

They nodded, let go and went to help others. The Doctor grabbed the Kajoran by his the top of his body suit.

"Be lucky I got to you in time, mate," he said before he punched him in the face and knocked him out.

He picked him up and followed the crowd who by now had dispatched every Kajoran and mind slave they could find. The Doctor's stomach turned when he saw the carnage but he knew that the mob would have overpowered him in seconds if he had tried to get in front of them. Everyone in the mines was hell bent on revenge and there was nothing or no one that could stop them, certainly not him. Once the danger had passed though they began to calm down and the Doctor yelled at them, glad he could finally take control of the situation.

"Listen to me. This is it. This is all the Kajorans and the mind slaves," he said walking up to them. "There are two guards up top but they are human like us. They've come to help and they're in disguise. My other two friends are up there as well so it's time to calm down and pull yourselves together. You've won your freedom but you have to wait here while I go get my ship so you can all get inside without having to walk a mile in the cold. Can all of you do that?"

They nodded.

"This Kajoran in my arms is for interrogation purposes as are the two guards we knocked out. They are not to be harmed. I need them alive. Everyone got that?"

They nodded again.

"Okay, now wait here and I'll be back down the lift to tell you when to go. Just relax and calm down. You're all safe now."

They made a path for him to the lift and the Doctor carried the Kajoran with him and got inside. He pressed the button and went up while the former slaves watched him.

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He and Rose and Jack got back into the winter gear then he, Jack and Ben carried their captives back to the TARDIS while the rest of them went down to check if any mind slaves were still alive so they could be fixed. They also checked if any Kajorans were alive so they could be captured. They trudged through the swirling snow and kept their footing on the snow and ice underneath them until they finally reached his ship. Once inside, the Doctor led them back to the holding cells and they dumped one Kajoran in each of them. Once they were secured, the Doctor moved his TARDIS up to the front entrance and all of them slowly got the former slaves up the lift and into the warmth and safety of the ship. Rose helped them into the living room and she and Simone and Billy got them something to eat and drink while they waited for everyone else to finish clearing out the mine. After the former slaves were in, they all went down and brought up five Kajorans and ten mine slaves who were still alive.

Once they were done, the Doctor closed the door and dead lock sealed it. Then he went to the back with everyone else to tend to the people's injuries, make them comfortable and free the mind slaves before he would begin the interrogation of his captives.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Seven

He waited in the shadows for them to get done with their killing spree, pressed up against the wall hoping that no one would see him. To his relief, the slaves were all so intent on winning their freedom that they had no idea he was there. Neither did the ones who started the rebellion, the ones who came back to check for survivors. The fools, they should have searched more thoroughly. But now he was left alone and he could contact the others, warn them about the rebellion so they could prepare for them. He had heard one of them call the female, Rose. He smiled. He was sure that was Rose Tyler, the rebel. If it was, then she would be recaptured and he would be a hero for helping to eliminate the greatest threat to the Kajoran regime. Let the others interrogate the prisoners, they would learn nothing of value and by the time they realized they were walking into a trap in the next mine, it would be too late.

He pulled out his communicator disc so he could talk to the foremen in the other caves.

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The Doctor stood in the living room staring at all the newly freed captives. They were sitting on the furniture and the floor eating and talking. Behind him, Jack and Rose lounged against one side of the wall and Ben, Billy and Simone leaned against the other side. The Doctor cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention.

"I need your attention, please," he said. "I'm glad you're here and you won your freedom. You should be proud of yourselves for surviving that hell when so many others didn't. Now…having said that, I realize all of you were angry and wanted out of there as quickly as possible, but there was no need to kill your fellow humans in cold blood. Especially since I could have released them from their enslavement and restored them to normal."

"They would have killed us!" a man pointed out.

"Yes, but there's a way to stop someone from killing you without putting a pickaxe through their skull. If you start killing your fellow humans then you're no better than the Kajorans. Now we're going to do this again and free the captives in the next mine and I will welcome any help but not if you're gonna go ballistic and start killing anything that moves. It's a wonder you didn't slaughter each other in there since you became nothing more than a frenzied mob. If that's the way you liberate a mine then you can stay in here and wait till we get back to civilization. However, if there are people who are willing to help without resorting to mindless violence then I will welcome any volunteers to help us free the people in the next mine. Now, is anyone willing to help us?"

Everyone sat and stared up at the Doctor. He sighed and nodded.

"Fine. But I will ask that all of you please join the resistance when we get back to London. I know you're frightened but this is no time to rest on your laurels and let the Kajorans take over the planet. In the meantime, you can rest in here but don't go touching anything, do you understand?"

They nodded.

"Good, as for the rest of you, come with me."

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The Doctor stood with the others in the console room.

"I guess it'll be up to us again," he said. "So, we'll try the same thing again. Ben and Billy, when we knock the guards out you take their place and Simone; you keep an eye on the captives while the three of us go down and get the rest."

They nodded.

"Um…"

They looked over when they noticed a little girl entering the room. The Doctor's hearts ached when he saw how young she was. He figured she couldn't be more than thirteen years old. He fumed when he gazed at her shaved head.

"Um, sir?" she said tentatively while she walked towards the Doctor.

He smiled warmly.

"I'm the Doctor," he said. "Please call me that instead of sir. And what might your name be?"

"Gabrielle."

"Nice to meet you, Gabrielle. What can I do for you?"

"I want to help all of you."

"You do?" the Doctor said, smiling wider as he walked up to her and bent down. "How old are you?"

"Eleven."

The Doctor heard Rose gasp and Jack suck in his breath as his anger flared up again. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Where are you from, Gabrielle?"

"New York."

"New York? My, you're a long ways from home. Where is your family?"

She shrugged and the Doctor forced down the rising anger. He cupped her cheeks.

"How long have you been down in that mine, Gabrielle?" he asked tenderly.

"I'm not sure. I…think a few months."

He gave her a sad look.

"You're a very brave girl," he said. "You went through all that and you still wanna help us?"

"I want everyone else to be free. I wanna help you free them. Please?"

The Doctor scratched his cheek thoughtfully. He admired the bravely of this little child especially since no one else had volunteered to help but he didn't want to put an eleven year old in harm's way. Looking at her, he suddenly had an idea.

"Come with me," he said, standing up and putting a hand on her shoulder. "There is something you can help me with."

He looked at his friends.

"Keep an eye on the others. I'm going to go free the mind slaves and interrogate the captives."

He smiled at Gabrielle.

"Would you like to help me do that?"

She nodded.

"Brilliant. Come with me then."

Rose and Jack smiled when the girl took the Doctor's hand and he led her away.

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The Doctor paused outside a cell. Inside a mind slave was looking around it in confusion. The Doctor bent down to his young friend and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"Do you see that little scar on the side of his head, Gabrielle?" he said while he adjusted the setting.

She nodded.

"Okay, I'm gonna hold him and I want you to take this, it's a sonic screwdriver. I want you to press this button here and hold it against the scar for a couple of seconds, alright?"

She nodded.

"What will it do?"

"It'll turn off whatever's inside their heads and make them normal again."

Gabrielle nodded. He cupped her cheek.

"You're a very brave little girl," he said proudly.

He smiled when Gabrielle beamed at that. He stood up and watched the mind slave who was now eyeing him warily.

"Stand back a little, Gabrielle, until I get him restrained."

"Yes, sir."

"Doctor. Please call me Doctor."

She nodded.

"Okay, Doctor."

He smiled at that and looked up at the ceiling.

"Okay, TARDIS, let me in," he said.

The wall between them dissolved. The moment the mind slave noticed it was gone; he lunged at the Doctor and Gabrielle. The Doctor sidestepped him, caught his arms and quickly jerked him backwards into his chest. He forced him to the floor and held the struggling man by his arms

"Okay, now!" he grunted.

Gabrielle turned on the sonic and held it against the incision scar. The man gasped and suddenly went limp in the Doctor's arms. The Doctor looked around at his face and noticed him blinking in confusion.

"Okay, you can turn it off now," he said to her.

She nodded and took the sonic away. The Doctor kept the man's arms behind his back.

"Do you know your name?" he said to him.

"George," the man said, blinking.

"George, I'm the Doctor. I and Gabrielle here just saved you from the Kajorans' mind control."

He tried to look back at him.

"Thank you, Doctor," he said to him.

The Doctor hesitated a moment and then let him go. George sighed and put his hands on his legs while he tried to get his bearings.

"George, you're in my ship. We rescued you," the Doctor said.

"Again, thank you. I don't know how I got in here but I'm grateful to you."

"You don't remember being enslaved?"

He shook his head. He suddenly had a thought and looked at him with wide eyes.

"I…I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

The Doctor's hearts ached when he heard the fear in his voice.

"I don't know, George. I hope not."

"Those damn Kajorans, I hope every last one of them gets obliterated," he growled.

"I don't, but I understand your feelings," he said.

He stared at the Doctor.

"You don't want them dead?"

"No, because killing them isn't gonna solve anything and if you commit genocide then you'd be guilty of exactly the same thing they're doing to you. I understand your anger, George, and believe me, we will take care of them but if I can do it without obliterating them, then I will."

He put a hand on his shoulder.

"You're safe now," he said, gently. "You don't have to worry about them hurting you anymore. I'm going to take you back home and then we're gonna make plans to take back this planet and defeat the Kajorans once and for all. But in the meantime, I have a living room where you and the other former slaves can rest and relax. All of you need a break after they nearly worked you to death."

George nodded.

"Thank you again, Doctor."

He smiled.

"My pleasure. Now if you can just wait here and rest, Gabrielle and I will free your fellow mind slaves. Then I'll show you where the living room is before I interrogate the lizards.

"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After freeing the other nine mind slaves and reassuring them that they were safe, he led them all back to the living room. He made sure the others in the room knew they were free and made them promise they wouldn't retaliate in any way. After they promised not to hurt them he left them with the others and went back to the cell block. Gabrielle started to follow him but the Doctor stopped her and knelt down.

"I need you to help me with something else, alright?" he said.

She nodded.

"This ship here is the most magnificent ship in the universe. I say that because it's alive."

He smiled when Gabrielle's eyes widened.

"It is?" she said.

"Mmhmm, it's a girl and it can hear and see everything we do."

He chuckled softly when Gabrielle looked all around her.

"What's her name?" she whispered.

"TARDIS."

He smiled when Gabrielle looked up and waved.

"Hi TARDIS," she said.

Her eyes widened again when the TARDIS rumbled.

"She said hello," the Doctor said.

He snickered when she looked up at the ceiling in awe.

"Whoa! Cool!" she said.

"Yes, she's very cool! And she's very helpful as well. Now, I want you to go and serve our new guests some drinks and snacks and my TARDIS is gonna help you with that. She'll show you the way to my kitchen and she'll fix the food and drinks. All you have to do is carry the trays back into the living room and be my little hostess while I go talk to the Kajoran bad guys. Okay?"

She nodded and he glanced up.

"Okay, TARDIS?"

She grunted and nudged his mind.

"The TARDIS is gonna help. Now just turn around and walk down this corridor and my ship will make a way right to the kitchen, alright?"

"Okay."

"Good, thank you for doing this and for helping me with my sonic screwdriver. You've been a tremendous help to me."

His hearts warmed when she smiled at that and he gave her a little peck on the forehead.

"Things are gonna be better from here on out, Gabrielle. You won't have to worry about being a slave anymore, not while I'm alive. You believe me, don't you?"

She nodded.

"Good because I'm telling you the truth. And now, my little helper, go on along and I'll have a little chat with our lizard friends."

They stood up and he gave her shoulder a squeeze while he watched her walk off. Once he saw the TARDIS rearranging the corridor to take her to the kitchen, he turned and headed back to the cell block to interrogate his prisoners.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

The Doctor narrowed his eyes when he came to the first cell and started at the Kajoran captive. The lizard was on his feet staring back at him with his cold yellow eyes. Both men regarded the other coolly.

"You may think you have won, human, but you are wrong," he hissed.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, seeing as how you're trapped inside my ship," the Doctor sneered.

The Kajoran snorted.

"I am but one and I give my life willingly to the Kajoran cause."

"What cause? What are you doing here? Surely it's not just to enslave humans and smelt gold. You can get gold on any number of uninhabited planets. So why come here?"

The Kajoran smirked.

"If you think I'm gonna tell you, mammal, you're stupider than I thought," he said. "I am loyal to the Kajorans and I will willingly die before I tell you anything."

The Doctor sighed.

"Great, now we have to do this the hard way. I was willing to give you a chance and just tell me what I want to know without resorting to coercion but if you want to be difficult I can resort to unpleasant methods to get the truth from you."

The Kajoran chuckled.

"For the glory of the Kajoran Empire!" he yelled.

The Doctor's eyes widened when he bit down hard and a black gas started seeping out of his mouth.

"NO!" he said as the Kajoran collapsed and went into convulsions before dying.

His hearts stopped when he heard the others yell out the same thing. He ran to them but every one of them had activated the suicide gas and they were all thrashing about in their cells.

"No! No, no, no!" the Doctor moaned.

He let out a frustrated yell and stamped his foot. He had searched the captives but he didn't see anything in their mouths. He figured the gas pill or bomb or whatever it had been was inserted into their gum lines where it couldn't be seen. He leaned back against the wall sighing angrily as he stared at the seven corpses in front of him.

"Damn them. These lizards aren't just bonkers, they're suicidal as well. Just like the one that tried to blow us up, this mission is apparently so important that they'll just give their lives up without a second thought."

He let out a curse as he slammed his hands against the wall. He asked the TARDIS to dispose of the bodies. There was a flash of light and they were gone. The Doctor shook his head and went to find Rose and the others.

They were still in the console room but Gabrielle was with them. She walked up to him when he entered.

"I gave the people all the food and drinks," she said proudly.

He smiled and put his hand on her head.

"You are such a help to me, Gabrielle, I'm grateful that you did that for me."

"Do you want me to do anything else?"

His eyes sparkled.

"Well, if you could look after everyone while we go to the next mine and free everyone, I'd appreciate that," he said.

She nodded.

"The TARDIS will help you do it because all of us are gonna have our hands full for a bit."

"I can do it. I used to babysit my little brother and sister when my mom and dad went out to eat."

"Did you now? My, my, you are a responsible young lady. I need someone like you to keep everyone in line in my ship, especially Jack here. He's a handful with all the feeding and burping."

"Jack chuckled and walked over to her.

"Yeah, I need my diaper changed constantly and I won't eat my carrots, I'm a fussy brat."

They all grinned when Gabrielle giggled. The Doctor wondered how long it had been since she had laughed and been at peace like this. He was so thankful he had been able to free her and the others and get them back to the safety of his TARDIS. He looked around at his friends.

"Is everyone ready to go to the next mine now?" he asked.

They nodded. He looked at Gabrielle.

"Are you ready?"

"I'm ready when you are, Doctor."

He smiled.

"Good. Just sit here and watch while I pilot the TARDIS on to the next destination. Good job the Kajorans back in London supplied us with a number of locations since the others died on us."

Rose sighed.

"Doctor, I'm sorry you couldn't get any information from them," she said.

He shrugged.

"After the one tried to blow us up with him I shoulda guessed the others would be no different," he said, powering up the TARDIS. "It just shows how willing they are to protect their operations here on Earth. There's more to it though. I'm sure of it. I'm sure this invasion is part of a wider, greater plan and this time we are gonna make damn sure the lizard captives are incapable of killing themselves because I want the truth."

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The Doctor and his friends paused behind a huge snowdrift. The entrance to the mine was about twenty feet away and as before two guards was posted at the entrance. The Doctor looked back at Ben and Billy who were dressed in the other guards' outfits. He nodded to them and they got up and hurried towards the guards.

"Emergency!" Ben said running up to them. "Come quickly!"

The guards looked at them.

"What is it?" the one on the left said.

"We need help. Humans are escaping!" Billy replied.

The guards looked at each other and followed them. They led them back to the snowdrift and ducked down. They ran around it and stopped short when they saw the Doctor, Rose and Jack.

"Hi! We're the escaped humans. Nighty-night now!"

They grunted when he and Jack leapt up and decked them in the face, knocking them out. Everyone stepped back when Simone handed him a gas capsule and he stepped on it. He turned on his respiratory bypass system and stepped back with them. Once the gas dissipated, he nodded to Simone who took her place besides the guards.

"Let's go," the Doctor said to his friends.

They took off their snow gear, ran out from behind the snow drift and headed towards the entrance. The Doctor peeked inside and noticed the interior was empty. He nodded at Jack and Rose and they went inside while Ben and Billy took their positions beside the entrance. They hurried to the lift and went down. Just like before, no Kajorans were around it and they quickly ducked into the shadows once it stopped. They peeked around a corner and noticed that the humans were all working while the guards and mind slaves moved among them whipping and urging them on.

"So what do we do?" Jack whispered.

"Try to get back down into the mine shafts like before. Rally the humans down there and start the tidal wave coming up into the caves, only this time I'm gonna talk to them beforehand so we don't get a complete bloodbath in their wake."

"So act like we did before?" Rose whispered to him.

He nodded.

"Yes, act like one of the workers and keep to the shadows. Hopefully, it'll be like the last time and we'll get down the shafts without arousing suspicions."

He looked at them and asked if they were ready. When they nodded, the three of them stepped out into the open. They adopted the blank looks of the captives and slowly moved among them. As they slowly moved towards the furnace room they were unaware that a couple of Kajorans had spotted them and were shadowing them.

They entered the furnace room and turned their heads away from the same horrifying scene of men sweating to death in front of the fire.

"This way," the Doctor whispered as he pointed to an opening off to the right.

Suddenly, they heard Rose yell and he and Jack spun around. Their hearts caught in their throats when they saw the Kajorans had a hold of Rose and were preparing to plunge her head first into the fire.

"No!" the Doctor said.

"Surrender or the rebel will be burned alive!" one of them said.

The Doctor and Jack glanced at each other and put up their hands. The two Kajoran chuckled.

"We knew you were coming. You left one of the foremen alive in the other mine and he alerted the rest of us."

The Doctor cursed under his breath.

"Restrain them!"

The Doctor and Jack felt two mind slaves come up from behind, grab their arms and force them behind their backs. One of the Kajoran grabbed a hold of Rose's arm while the other stepped towards the Doctor and Jack.

"Let them go. Take me, I'm the one who's responsible for the uprising," the Doctor said desperately.

The Kajoran chuckled.

"And let the rebel Rose Tyler escape? We've wanted her for quite some time now and of course we are grateful to you for returning our escaped slave here."

"I warn you, harming them would be a very bad idea," the Doctor snarled.

The Kajoran seized his face and got in close.

"And I'm warning you, resist us and cause us trouble and we'll make your enslavement more painful than it already will be. You are not in control here anymore, mammal, we are and you will do as we say or suffer the consequences."

The Doctor glanced at Rose and saw the fear in her eyes. His hearts sank when he knew she was remembering the dream and this time he couldn't promise her for sure that it wouldn't come true.

He glanced over with the others when Ben and Billy were brought in and thrown to the floor in front of them.

"We found the other two, Suissstra," the Kajoran guard said.

"Excellent, Prystrak, now we have all the rebels in our clutches."

The Doctor breathed a silent sigh of relief that Simone had gotten away and they hadn't thought to look for her. Suissstra pointed to him.

"This one is the leader. He will be questioned. In the meantime, these four shall be detained in separate cells on the ship until the commander determines what shall be done with them."

Prystrak and the other one saluted him. They grabbed Ben and Billy while the mind slaves took hold of Rose and Jack and pushed them along. Rose looked back at the Doctor and he gave her a brave smile when he saw the anguish on her face.

"I'll see you later," he mouthed to her.

"Doctor," Rose said before the mind slave forced her to look the other way.

The Doctor watched with silent worry while his friends were forced back towards the mine's entrance. He grunted when Suissstra grabbed his face and forced him to look at him. He got in close and stared at him while his forked tongue darted in and out, smelling him.

"You are different from other humans, I can tell," he said. "Perhaps we can use you."

The Doctor snorted.

"Guess again, scaly," he said.

He grunted when the Kajoran squeezed his face.

"If I were you, I wouldn't talk back, I could very easily shatter your jaw with just my hand," he said.

"What's the difference since you're gonna torture me anyway?" the Doctor grunted.

"Ah, but if you cooperate with us, we'll go easy on you, little mammal. Now…we're going to go into a room and there you will answer any and all questions I will ask, truthfully, or both you and your friends will suffer dearly."

The Kajoran nodded at the mind slave holding him. He let go of one arm and a Kajoran guard grabbed the other. The Doctor glanced at the lizard and saw the triumphant smile on his face before he was herded away to be interrogated.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty Nine

Simone hid behind a snowbank watching as her friends were led out of the mine entrance by Kajoran guards. She resisted the urge to go and help them knowing that she would be no match by herself against the big brutish lizards. She noticed Rose looking around and she caught her eye when she raised her head a bit more. Rose smiled at her and nodded briefly when the guards weren't paying attention. She watched as a small white spaceship descended down from the sky. The guards held their captives fast while it landed several feet away from them. Once the side hatch was opened the guards forced them to walk into it barking at them to keep moving and keep quiet. Simone kept her head down and huddled into a ball, praying that they wouldn't think to check for any other rebels.

"These are four of the rebels," she heard one of the guards say to someone."There is another. We think he's the leader so he'll be interrogated down in the mine and then Bartok will figure out what to do with him afterward."

Simone groaned softly. The Doctor was still down in the mine and she was sure the Kajorans would show him no mercy. She froze and kept her head down when she heard the hatch slam shut and the ship's engines start up again. She glanced up and saw it rising into the sky before she put her head back down again. Her heart sank imagining what the lizards would do to them. In her mind there was only one hope for them and the Earth and he was still being held captive down in the mind. Simon was unsure what to do but she had a shaved head the same as the others and perhaps that was enough to get her past the foremen, guards and mind slaves and find the interrogation room. If she rescued the Doctor then perhaps they could come up with a plan to rescue the others before it was too late. She was terrified but at the same time she knew it had to be done or her friends would die and the rebellion might crumble. Gathering up her courage, she looked up and saw no one near the mine entrance. She fingered one of the Doctor's gas capsules in her hand, said a silent prayer for success and then with a count of three sprinted towards the mine shaft.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor grunted when Suissstra slammed him down onto a chair and decked him across the face. He stepped back and let the guards gather round him tying him to it while he went to grab the box that would put an actual slave number on the back of his head. While he did it, he heard the strange man telling the others not to hurt his friends or else. He smirked. The strange one had courage and a strong will. He loved the ones who possessed that since it was more fun to break them in the torture chamber. When he picked up the tattoo machine he grabbed a scanner as well. The strange one was not human, he knew that much. so he was going to find out what he really was.

The guards finished restraining him to the chair and bowed to Suissstra. Suissstra put in a call to Bartok, the commander, telling him that they had the leader of the rebel band restrained and at their mercy. A moment later, Bartok entered the room and gazed upon him.

"Yesss," he hissed. "This is the one who's been causing all the trouble."

"He is not human, Commander," Suissstra said. "I was going to conduct a scan before I tattooed him."

"Carry on," Bartok said.

"So," the Doctor said to Bartok as Suissstra started to scan him. "You're the major domo, I take it."

"You have disrupted our activities here on Earth," Bartok said. "You have caused us to lose captives, at the distrubution center and in one of the mines."

"Yeah, well I have a slight problem with you capturing people and forcing them to work until they're dead," the Doctor said.

"He has two hearts, Commander," Suissstra said, looking up from his scanner.

"Do you now? Interesssssting," he said, his tongue snaking out on the S.

"Yeah, I love having two hearts, allows me to give out twice the love," the Doctor said nonchalantly. "I believe in that you know. Make love, not war. Live and let live. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched or your slaves before they've escaped. All truisms I live by."

Bartok walked over to him and studied him intently while Suissstra continued his scan.

"You are very brave," he said, gently grabbing his chin and turning his head from side to side.

"Keep it on my right side. That's my good side," the Doctor said to him.

Bartok took his hand away and stared at him silently while Suissstra finished his scan. Behind the Doctor, the guards stood and talked quietly amongst themselves while they gestured to him.

"Commander, I have finished the scan and apart from the two hearts he resembles a human," Suissstra said.

"But you're not a human, are you?" Bartok said, lowering his head down to the Doctor and peering at him with his yellow eyes. "I can sense it and smell it. I smell stardust on you and I know that humans are only capable of traveling to their moon at this point. But you...you've been much further than that, haven't you?"

"Very good," the Doctor said, staring right back without flinching.

"What are you then, strange one?" Bartok said.

"I'm an anomaly. An everyman. A jovial chap that loves a party, what about you?"

"You will address the commander with respect!" Suissstra said angrily.

"It's alright, Suissstra," Bartok said, raising a hand. "He is used to being in charge, aren't you?"

"Uh-huh," the Doctor said, nodding rapidly.

"Why do you care for these humans if you're not a human yourself?" Bartok asked him.

"Because I don't like it when intergallactic bullies come down and start roughing people up for their lunch money, that's why. If you like, the universe is like a schoolyard and we are all little children playing in it and we must all learn to get along so everyone can take turns on the galactic swingset."

Suissstra growled deep in his throat.

"Insolent warm blood," he snarled. "Commander, let me torture him so he'll learn to respect his superiors."

"No, Suissstra, he will learn compliance better if we torture his companions."

"I'm warning you, that would be a big mistake on your part," the Doctor growled.

Bartok chuckled.

"Are they your friends, Warm Blood? Do you care for them? Do you care for Rose Tyler?"

He smirked when the Doctor narrowed his eyes.

"Tell us, Warm Blood, tell us what we want to know and she will be spared from any torment, I give you my word."

"How do we know he won't lie to us, Commander?" Suissstra asked.

"Because if he does, his friend's lives are forfeit," Bartok said. "Pity you care so much for them. We Kajoran do not feel love for others as humans do so there is no chance we can be controlled with the threat of harm to another. That is what makes us superior to them. They are addlebrained, emotional warm bloods who spend their time fighting with each other over petty matters. If we had not come here and put them under our authority they more than likely would have gone extinct in a few centuries or even less."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," the Doctor said.

"What makes you say that, Warm Blood?"

"Because humans are resiliant. Yes, they argue and fight amongst themselves and make war on each other but they also have compassion and love and strength and intelligence and courage, courage enough to stand up to you lot even though you've tried to bully and beat and kill them into submission. The human will is hard to break, Commander. You might be able to subdue them for awhile but eventually the humans will rise up like they're doing now and fight back. Don't underestimate them because that'll be the biggest mistake you'll ever make."

"And who are you then? Their champion?" Bartok said.

The Doctor raised his chin and gave him a proud look.

"I am," he said. "I love the humans and I'll do anything to protect them and keep tyrants like you from driving them into extinction. You wish to know who I am? Fine then, I'll tell you. I'm a Time Lord."

Bartok and Suissstra glanced at each other.

"I've not heard of that species before," Bartok finally said.

"Oh, that's because we're found only in one universe and it's not this one. I came all the way over here from a completely different universe to put a stop to you and your schemes."

"Lies," Bartok said, waving his hand dismissively. "There is only one universe. The Mother Serpent created this universe and the ancient writings of the prophets who communicated with her would have mentioned more if there were other universes. I do not know what a...Time Lord is but I know what you are now and you are my slave. I have need of you. I can tell you have intelligence beyond any human."

"Why, thank you," the Doctor said cheerfully. "I was a good boy in school and did all my lessons and was always the teacher's pet, you know."

He smirked at the lizard's angry hissing.

"However," Bartok said. "You are also an insolent upstart..."

"Why, thank you," the Doctor said cheerfully. "I was a right bastard after school and vandalized the school and burned it to the ground when they didn't give me full marks one year. Everyone was peeved at me for that and I admit I probably went a bit too far with the vandalizing and the burning but on the plus side it gave me more time to play hooky and be an impish imp and..."

He grunted when Bartok slapped him hard in the face.

"I tire of your flippant tongue and your lack of respect!" he hissed.

"Yeah? Well I tire of you and your ilk running rampant all over this planet killing and enslaving the humans," the Doctor said through gritted teeth.

He gasped and activated his bypass system when Bartok seized his throat and squeezed his windpipe.

"The human child, Rose, she will be tortured as punishment for your insolence."

"I'm warning you," the Doctor gasped out. "That would be a huge mistake on your part."

He took air into his lungs when Bartok let go of his neck.

"Prepare him. We will wait until after he has witnessed the Rebel Rose's torture to use the tattoo machine on him. Once that is done, a chip will be inserted into his head and he will become my personal mindslave."

The Doctor grunted when he seized his throat again and got in close.

"And once that happens, you will be the one in charge of rounding up the rest of the humans, destroying their rebellion and processing them. That way their defender will end his days as their enslaver and executioner."

"Never!" the Doctor grunted.

"Oh you will or you'll watch Rose while she's flayed alive and her flesh is fed to the sand worms," he said.

The Doctor gasped when he let go.

"Guards, take him up and call down the transport ship. He will join his friends in captivity for awhile before he's forced to watch Rose Tyler suffer for his flippant tongue."

"I'm warning you..."

He didn't get to finish the sentence because Bartok punched him hard in the face, rendering him unconscious.

"There, he'll be no trouble to you now," he said to the guards. I will await you up at the mine entrance."

The guards and Suissstra bowed and watched as he walked to the door and opened it.

Just outside the door, Simone sank back into the shadows and watched as he hurried away.

"Don't worry, Doctor," she whispered to herself. "I'll save you from the Kajorans or die trying."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Rose grunted as two Kajoran guards threw her into a cell. The walls were made of metal and when they pressed a button a shimmering forcefield covered the front, allowing her to see out and hear but not to pass through it.

"Behave, Warm Blood, until we have need of you," one of the guards said as they sneered at her.

They both stood there a moment, their tongues flicking the air as they tasted her scent before they finally left. Rose went and sat down at the back of the empty cell. She brought her legs up to her chest and put her arms around them as she wondered what was going to become of her. She hadn't seen Billy or Ben and she hoped they were alright. After a few minutes, she became aware of someone screaming in the distance. It sounded like a man being tortured and she felt sick to her stomach wondering if that was Ben or Billy. She rose and walked to the forcefield. She tentatively touched it and quickly drew back her hand when it shocked her.

"Fuck!" she spat out as she went back to the wall and sat back down. "Doctor, I hope to God you're alright because if I die, the world will need you more than ever."

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"So," the Doctor said cheerfully as he was escorted through the mine. "Are we going directly to the mothership of doom are are we taking the scenic route."

"Silence!" Suissstra hissed as he followed behind the two guards who were jerking him along.

"I was only asking a simple question. I just want to know if I need my thermals or not," the Doctor said, pouting. "After all, I am your guest and even though I'm going to be a mindless mindslave soon, I'm still a human being...or maybe not, but you get what I'm on about, right?"

"I said, silence, or I'll contact the mothership and order them to start torturing Rose Tyler!"

"I told you that would be a big mistake on your part," the Doctor growled at him.

Suissstra seized the back of his head.

"And I told you to be SILENT!"

The Doctor gnashed his teeth when all around them mine workers cowered in terror the moment he raised his voice. He stared at the poor humans sorrowfully as he took in their emaciated bodies and all the whip marks and bruises on their sweating, dirty bodies. He hated that he had let this group down when he was successful in liberating the other mine. He cursed himself for not checking it more carefully, especially the guards who were supposedly dead and unconscious. Because of him, these humans might never live to see the sunlight.

Suddenly, there was a grunt from behind him and the Doctor turned his head to see Suissstra falling unconscious to the ground and Simone standing behind him with a large rock in her hands. The guards hissed at her and loosened their grip on the Doctor who took it to his advantage, wriggled out of their grasp and punched the one on the left hard in the face.

"Come on!" Simone called out to the other slaves. "Fight for your freedom!"

The slaves suddenly rose up as one and overwhelmed the guards, foreman and mindslaves. Once again the Doctor was powerless to stop the initial frenzy and the bloodshed that occurred when people began to hack at their tormentors with their pickaxes and bash their heads in with rocks. Finally, the Doctor was able to get things under control, but not before twenty five Kajoran and mindslaves lay dead. The Doctor shook his head at all the carnage. He understood the human's anger and their fear which led them to murder the Kajorans and mindslaves so savagely but he still didn't condone it. This time, he made sure to be more thorough, ordering Simone and the others to round up the survivors and make sure the dead truly were dead while they searched the caverns. After he was satisfied all the living were rounded up and the dead were truly dead, the Doctor ordered them to stay put and ran out to his TARDIS. Once he was inside, he went back inside the mine with it as Gabrielle stood by and watched and everyone helped him take the survivors to the holding cells. This time the Doctor made a search of their mouths with a scanner and located a false tooth that bore the deadly poison gas. He went through and pulled out each tooth, putting them into a plastic baggie. After that was done, he ordered the TARDIS to seal up the fronts of the cells and he went back to his console room so he could find where the mothership was and get it on board.

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Aboard the mothership the Supreme Commander in Chief, Zartax, sat in his chair on the bridge lazily watching the planet Earth as it spun below him. He was dressed just like the other Kajorans except he wore a bright red sash across his chest and epaulets on each shoulder as well as medals on the right side of his chest that he had won from previous battles and invasions. He was far older than his lessers on the ship and far wiser. He had fought through many wars and conquered many species and unlike his younger brethern, he knew that it would take all they had to quash the human rebellion once and for all. He had to admit he admired the semi-intelligent warm bloods for their courage and perserverence. Each time they thought the humans were finished, another rebel group would spring up and rally others to fight for their freedom. They were stubborn survivors and in that respect they were just like the Kajorans.

A door at the back of the bridge slid open and Captain Narjok walked in. Zartax swiveled around in his chair as Narjok bowed low.

"Yes, Captain?" Zartax said.

"Commander, we're happy to report that we have finally captured Rose Tyler at last."

"Excellent," Zartax said. "Once she is executed, the London rebels will lose one of their most charismatic fighters."

"Yes, Commander, but there are others who are just as dangerous. There is a warm blood called The Doctor. He resembles the humans but he's not one of them. He's something else, a Time Lord."

Zartax cocked his head thoughtfully.

"I've never heard of such a species," he conceded.

"Nor I, Commander. He claims to be from another universe."

The ridge that passed for an eyebrow above Zartax's eye raised.

"Is he insane?" he asked Narjok.

"I'm not sure, Commander. He insists that he comes from a different universe though."

Zartax chuckled.

"Does he now. Bring this universe hopper in here, I wish to see him."

"That's why I'm here, Commander. He was being interrogated down in Mine Sixteen and as he was being escorted to the mothership, he was rescued and the humans rebelled and killed several of our men and mindslaves and captured the rest. We know this because of the CCTV cameras and a message by the foreman before he was killed by the slaves. But that's not all, Commander. He also managed to liberate Mine Eight as well."

Zartax flicked his tongue angrily.

"Send men to find him and bring him to me! Use as many men as you need. I want him brought before me alive, not necessarily unharmed, but he must be breathing and conscious! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Commander!"

"Then go and find this rebellious Doctor. I want him here so he can be tortured and executed along with Rose Tyler. I won't let some...Time Lord undo all we have achieved. Now go."

"Yes, Commander."

Narjok bowed and left the room as Zartax let out an angry hiss, swiveled around in his seat and glowered at the Earth.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty One

"Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me hooome."

Jack sat on the metal floor of his bare cell singing Negro spirituals to annoy his two Kajoran guards who'd been ordered to watch him. First he tried Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall until even he got irritated by that, then he switched to show tunes and finally he was singing the spirituals. While he sang, the guard on the right glanced at his friend and flicked his tongue angrily.

"I say we kill him now so we can get some peace and quiet," he said to his friend.

"We can't, Suissstra's orders, the warm blood has to stay alive."

"I do?" Jack said in a high-pitched voice, "how kind of Suissstra that he'd allow me to be spared for the moment so I can serenade you charming fellas. Okay…Nooow, I've had the time of my liiiife…"

The guard on the right spun around.

"Even if we're not allow to put you to death, I'm sure we'd be allowed to pull out your tongue!" he hissed at him.

"Then you'd get to hear me go wah, wah, wah, wah, waaah all night long and wouldn't that be worse?" Jack challenged.

The guards sighed.

"I'm asking for a bonus after guarding this idiot," the guard on the right said to his friend who nodded in agreement.

They both flicked their tongues angrily when Jack sang The Macarena as loudly as he could.

The Doctor stood at his console with Simone beside him. The young girl was getting used to being with the Time Lord. He was a strange man, unlike any she'd ever seen before, but he was brave and kind and very charming and he knew how to put her at her ease and make her feel at home. She was watching while he typed some commands into his computer.

"What are you doing?" she finally asked him.

"Sending an ultimatum to the Kajoran high command. Let them know I'm serious about defeating them and asking them to let our friends go," he said.

"Do you think they'll listen?"

"Probably not, but I like to give my foes a chance before I get nasty with them. Now could you back away because I'm about to record a holographic message."

Simone nodded. She started to back up and then had a thought. She took his arm.

"Thank you," she said when he looked at her. "Thank you for risking your life for us."

The Doctor beamed and knelt down to hug her.

"Thank you for helping me and being so brave," he said. "You rescued me and I owe you my life or something along the lines of a huge seven course meal once we get through here."

"I'd rather have my family back."

The Doctor sighed.

"I'll see what I can do but I can't promise anything," he said gently.

"I understand. You've done so much for us already, I'll be grateful for anything you can do for me."

The Doctor smiled and hugged her.

"If I can't get your parents back, I'll make sure you find somewhere safe to go before I leave here, that's a promise."

"You're not staying?" Simone asked.

"I don't belong here. I come from another universe. I came here through a gap in the fabric of reality and once I realized where I was, I started to look for Rose since she and I are old friends. Then I saw the mess the planet was in and I couldn't leave without sorting it out, not in good conscience anyway."

"I'm glad you came to help us then."

He gave her another hug and told her to back up so he could record the message. He put a few more commands into his computer and put the recording on a one minute delay. Once that was activated, he went and sat down on his jump seat. Simone watched and waited, standing just off to the side so she could see what was going on without bothering him or getting in the shot. She saw a weird concentric circle flash on the monitor and then the Doctor began speaking.

"This is the Doctor, one of the leaders of the human resistance," he said as he looked towards the console. "This is a message for the Kajoran. I demand that you release all your prisoners, mind slaves and those in cryogenic storage and leave this planet as quick as you can never to return. I am giving you five hours to do all this before I come on board your ships and make you rue the day you ever decided to invade this planet. I know you have no idea who I am but trust me, I am not one to be trifled with and I show no mercy to someone who harms my friends or the people on this planet. I am its protector and I take that duty seriously. Consider this your one and only warning, Kajorans, and heed it well because I can easily make you wish you were never born. Message ended."

Another concentric circle flashed on the screen and the Doctor relaxed and stood up. He walked over to his monitor and typed another command into his computer. He hit the enter button and looked at Simone.

"There, it's sent to the mothership," he said to her.

"Will they listen?"

"I don't know, I doubt it. I'm not waiting five hours though. I'm sure once they get this message, they'll do something to Rose or Jack or Ben or Billy and I won't let them suffer any longer. I have a way of being alerted if they send me a message of surrender."

"But they won't, will they?"

"I doubt it. But this is what I do most of the time when facing a foe. I give them a chance instead of attacking them outright. I show them some mercy even if they show others none. If they won't accept surrender then that's on their heads."

"That's a good idea," Simone said, nodding. "I like that you try to be humane to them even if they won't be."

"Well, I try to be the good guy whenever I can," the Doctor said, tousling her hair. "Now…I'm going to go into outer space above the mothership because I want the TARDIS to scan it and see if she can get through any shields or defenses they have. If I can lower their shields and neutralize their defenses then I can dematerialize and enter the ship without them knowing. That way we have the element of surprise. Hopefully, we can do that, find our friends and with their help, sabotage the mothership, disable or destroy them and end the occupation."

"Can I help you if you get on board the ship?"

The Doctor hesitated.

"Well, you're a bit young and I hate to have something happen to you," he said.

"Something already happened to me," Simone said. "They hurt me and hurt my family and I want to help stop them. I'm brave."

"Yes, you are," the Doctor said admiringly. "That's very rare for someone as young as you. I won't stop you, only ask that you think carefully because if you're caught and not killed, they probably won't show you any mercy."

"I understand. I know they might hurt me like they hurt Rose and everyone else. I want to help you, Doctor. I want to be brave and help free the humans with you."

"Then I'd be honored to have your help," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "For now though, we're gonna go into outer space and see if we can penetrate their defenses."

Simone nodded and he patted her shoulder before he stood up, went over to the console and started up the TARDIS.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty Two

Suissstra left the med bay after his chief surgeon managed to treat and mend the injuries he suffered in the mine riot. He left the med bay even more determined to stamp out the human resistance and make them suffer for what they did and the first one on his list was the Doctor.

As he was walking back to the control room, a young Kajoran approached him.

"Commander, we just received a holographic message from the Doctor," he said.

Suissstra snorted but he told the Kajoran to go back to the control room with him. The Kajoran ran ahead and when the doors to the control room slid open, he announced the Commander's presence in a loud, clear voice. Everyone in the control room stood up and stood at attention as he entered.

"At ease," he said to everyone.

He walked up to the pilot of the ship while everyone else sat down.

"Where is this message?" he said to him.

The pilot cued up the message and it appeared above a large flat holodisc that was embedded in the floor in the center of the room.

"This is the Doctor, one of the leaders of the human resistance."

Suissstra watched the message, his anger rising with each passing second at the sheer gall of the Time Lord to order surrender to the Kajoran fleet. His tongue darted in and out angrily and when the message was done, he walked over to the doors while everyone watched him quietly. He opened the doors and summoned two guards.

"Bring Rose Tyler here, I want to give the Doctor a return message," he said to them.

The guards bowed and went to retrieve her while Suissstra walked over to a chair by the control console and waited.

"Commander," the Pilot said to him.

"Yes, Major," Suissstra said.

"Scanners are picking up an unidentified ship hovering above ours."

"Bring it up on screen," Suissstra said.

The windshield in front of them flickered and an image of the TARDIS floating in space was projected in front of their eyes. Suissstra rubbed his cheek thoughtfully, his tongue tasting the air while he studied it.

"Do you think it's him, Commander?" the Major said.

"Most likely. If it is, he has a very pitiful ship indeed. The man is extremely arrogant and he'll pay for that arrogance, mark my words."

"What do we do?" the Major asked him.

"Nothing, at present. Let the fool think he's invisible to our scanners. I want him to be free long enough to see Rose Tyler's message. After that, we'll activate the tractor beam and bring him inside."

The doors opened and Suissstra swiveled in the seat when the guards forced Rose Tyler into the room. Suissstra stood and approached her, a smug look on his face while Rose stood still and stared at him defiantly.

"Your co-leader has just given us an ultimatum. We are to surrender and leave or suffer his wrath."

"I'd listen if I were you," Rose said.

"No, I believe your friend will listen to us, once we get through with you," he said with a smirk before he turned to the Major. "Major, summon the torturer and tell him he's needed in the control room. We're going to give the Doctor a message he won't soon forget."

Simone watched the Doctor while he ran a scan of the Kajoran ship below them. More of the concentric circle writing flashed on the screen so she had no idea what it was saying but the Doctor seemed to be deep in thought while he read the writing. Finally, five minutes later, the circles stopped and the screen went blank.

"What's it say?" Simone asked.

"At the moment, there's no way in," the Doctor said to her. "They have their shields up and she can't find a way around them, although she is trying her best."

"So what do we do?" Simone asked.

"Well, we can either be patient and wait for her to find an opening…or we can let them pull us in via tractor beam or transmat and fight our way to Rose and the others."

"Do you think they know we're up here?"

"Oh yes, they know, trust me. Their shields are sophisticated and I'm sure their scanners are as well. Ship hovering above them, there's no way they're gonna miss it."

"And they'll attack us?" Simone asked fearfully.

The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder.

"If they do, we'll get out of here to a safe place. We're smaller and faster than they are, we'll be able to outmaneuver them without any trouble."

Simone nodded.

"Do you think everyone's alright?" she asked.

"They better be if the Kajorans know what's good for them," the Doctor said, his voice hard and cold.

His eyes darted over to the monitor when he saw a concentric circle flashing.

"They've sent a message back," the Doctor said to Simone. "Back up a bit and I'll run it. Dim the lights, TARDIS."

Simone backed up and the Doctor hit the enter button. A holographic projection appeared in between them. They saw Suissstra.

"This is a message for the Doctor. You have given your ultimatum to us, now we give you ours. Torturer!"

The Doctor and Simone gasped when they saw Rose stripped naked. Simone watched in horror as the torturer whipped her back and buttocks without mercy. At first, Rose tried not to cry out but eventually she was unable to and she began to scream in agony as the blows rained down on her back. The Doctor watched infuriated and Simone was scared at the murderous look on his face while he watched Rose's suffering. After ten minutes, the whipping stopped and it switched back to Suissstra.

"Surrender to us or she and your friends will suffer more of the same before being put to death. Have a nice day, Doctor."

The message ended and the lights came back up as the hologram stopped. All was quiet for a moment and then the Doctor suddenly ran from the room without comment. Simone wondered what was going on until she suddenly heard a howl of rage in the distance that made her blood run cold. She could tell from the roar of fury that the Kajorans had just made a huge mistake and possibly signed their death warrants.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty Three

Simone was wary of the Doctor when he came back into the room. He had fire in his eyes and a coldness to his demeanor that she had never seen before. She suddenly realized that the Doctor had it in him to defeat the Kajorans and run them off the face of the Earth. She knew now that the Kajorans had made a big mistake torturing Rose on screen. She knew there would be nothing that could stop him now.

The Doctor sensed Simone's fear and he gave her a sad smile.

"I'm not going to bite ya, promise," he said with a wink.

"I know. It's just…Rose…"

The hardness returned to his eyes for a moment before he sighed deeply.

"I shoulda known they'd do something like that. Reptilians are not known for their compassion as I'm sure you guessed," he said to her. "I know that Rose probably doesn't blame me but all the same, I wished it'd been me instead of her. She's been through enough as it is."

Simone nodded and the Doctor laid his hand on her shoulder.

"What do we do now?" Simone asked.

The Doctor closed his eyes a moment, deep in thought while Simone waited. He opened them after a few minutes.

"I have to surrender to them," he said to her.

"No, they'll kill you!" Simone said, alarmed.

"No, hear me out. This is where you come in," the Doctor said, kneeling down. "You see, they know about me but not you. You can help us while I surrender to them to prevent them from hurting Rose or any of the others. You told me that you wanted to help; do you still want to help me?"

"Yes," Simone said.

"Good. Because this is a big mission. You have to try to help us without getting caught and believe me, what happened to Rose could easily happen to you if you're not careful. So I'll ask you again, do you want to do this?"

"Yes," Simone said without any hesitation.

The Doctor gave her a proud smile and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, handed it to her and began to instruct her on how to use it and what to do.

Suissstra stood in the control room, his hands behind his back while he stared down at Earth. Once the torture was over with, Rose was taken to the med bay for medical attention. Suissstra had toyed with the idea of just continuing until the bitch bled to death but he knew that he must wait until the Doctor surrendered before executing them both. He felt sure after that display that it wouldn't be long before he surrendered and once he was captive, plans would be made to execute all of them and broadcast it all over Earth so that any freedom fighter watching would know that their beloved leaders were dead and there was no hope of resistance. Suissstra's tongue darted out and a smug grin spread over his lips when he realized that very soon, the human resistance would be dead and the planet would be theirs at last.

"Commander, incoming message, it's the Doctor," the co-pilot said.

"Ah, at last, play the messsssage," Suissstra said, allowing a hiss of satisfaction to escape.

He turned to the holographic projector as the message came up. The Doctor was sitting on his jump seat, an angry expression on his face which delighted Suissstra.

"This is the Doctor. I surrender," he said.

"See," Suissstra told the co-pilot, "all the warm blood needed was a little persuasion."

"I will allow you to beam my ship up to your ship and I will offer no resistance," the Doctor continued.

"Major, use the transmat to bring his ship aboard," Suissstra said.

He ignored the rest of the message while he went to gather guards together to take the Doctor into custody. The pilot was preparing the transmat when he heard the rest of the message that Suissstra missed.

"However, this message comes with a warning. I'm giving myself to you willingly but you must leave the Earth and everyone and everything on it alone. And you will release my friends in exchange for me. Fail to do this and you will live to regret the day you took a Time Lord captive. These are my demands, see that they are followed."

The Major turned in his seat and glared at the Doctor.

"The sheer arrogance of this warm blood," he said, shaking his head. "Well, the Commander doesn't need to be bothered with this. Once the warm blood is our captive, he won't have the power to make us carry out his commands."

He let out a snort of contempt while he turned off the message.

Meanwhile inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was giving Simone some last minute instructions.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? They're gonna hurt you," Simone said when he finished speaking.

"They're already hurt me. They hurt Rose and my friends and that's as good as hurting me," the Doctor said. "Besides, they made me shave my head and I'm cold now because of them," he added, patting his bald head. "And I had lovely hair, mind. It'll take ages to grow it back and get it looking splendid again, so they owe me for that."

Simone gasped and the Doctor put his hand on her shoulder when the TARDIS suddenly shuddered.

"They're taking us into the ship," the Doctor said. "Now, wait several minutes to make sure the coast is clear. And whatever you do, don't let any of them get in here. Make sure the door is closed securely when you leave, is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Simone said.

"Awww, no need for Sirs, Doctor will do. Now, I'll give you this," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a TARDIS key, "Just in case you need to get back in here, but once again, try not to let the Kajorans have it. They may not know what it's for if they find it but if they suss out what it is and get in here and find a way to fly my ship, time and space won't be safe from them."

Simone nodded, took the key and put it in her trouser pocket. The Doctor gently kissed her forehead when he felt the TARDIS landing.

"Be careful," he said softly.

"You too," Simone said.

He patted her shoulder and stood up.

"Hide," he said to her when he heard soldiers pounding on the front door, demanding to be let inside.

Simone nodded. The Doctor watched as she ran out of the room and when she was safely out of sight, he squared his shoulders and walked to the front door.

Simone sat by the back door in the darkness, tears running down her cheeks while she listened to the Kajorans yelling at the Doctor as he opened the door and quickly stepped outside. Even though she heard him slam the door, she could still hear the Kajorans screaming at him to fall to his knees or die. She pulled the sonic screwdriver out of her pocket and turned it over and over in her hands while she listened to the Kajorans yelling at the Doctor and mocking him. Anger flooded her mind when she thought about how kind he had been to her and how much he had risked his life to save her and the other humans.

"I'm gonna help free you, Doctor," Simone whispered as the voices grew quieter and faded away. "Even if I end up dying doing it."


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty Four

Simone waited about ten minutes before she got up and walked back to the front door. Her heart was racing, she was terrified but she was determined to do her part and not let the Doctor down. She paused a moment when she realized she was putting her life on the line for a man she barely knew. But she'd never known anyone like the Doctor and she knew he was the sort of man who could engender loyalty in people and he had certainly done that to her. These people were her friends and she was going to return their friendship by helping to save them and the Earth.

"Hold on, everyone, I'm coming," Simone whispered as she slowly opened the front door.

The Doctor grunted when the guards shoved him to his knees once they reached the control room. He looked up at Suissstra who was standing over him.

"So, warm blood, you have once again proven how foolish you are, how foolish all humans are," he gloated.

"I told you, I'm not a human," the Doctor replied.

"Whatever," Suissstra said, waving his hand dismissively. "You ally yourself with them which makes you one of them to me, whether you are or not is immaterial. You will die along with everyone else."

"I told you. I would surrender willingly if you left the Earth and its people alone and freed my friends."

Suissstra gave him a blank look as the co-pilot came up beside him.

"He did say that, Commander, it was in the part of the message that you missed. He demanded we leave the Earth or else we would regret bringing him on board our ship."

Suissstra threw back his head and laughed. Then he backhanded the Doctor hard across his face.

"You should have stayed safe and sound in your ship instead of throwing yourself to us," Suissstra sneered. "Your love for these pathetic humans will be your undoing. You will be executed along with the other prisoners and once you are dead, your body will be hung up and displayed as a warning to others. Bring his friends here. I'm sure he'll want to know how Rose Tyler is doing since our last message to you," he added with a smirk.

He laughed when the Doctor let out a yell of rage and tried to lunge at him.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO HER! I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!" the Doctor bellowed at him.

He was rewarded with another backhand to the face that made him grunt. Suisstra got in his face while the guards held his body immobile.

"On second thought, perhaps I'll make you a mind slave and have you spend the remainder of your days in a living death. I would get such joy seeing you serving the Kajoran Empire and not being able to escape your fate. But first, you will watch your fellow conspirators suffer and die and while they do so, remember that they died in your name, warm blood, since I sense you seem to be more important and influential than even Rose Tyler herself."

While he was boasting, the co-pilot checked his computer. The Doctor noticed a look of uneasiness pass across his face while he read something on the screen.

"Commander," the co-pilot finally said, swiveling in his seat.

"Yes, Major?"

"I've gotten the latest reports from Earth. The humans are revolting."

"I know that, Major, which is why I'm dealing with the resistance leaders…"

"No, Commander, you don't understand. It's more than London, it's over the entire planet. People are beginning to rise up and fight back. It's worldwide now."

"Ha!" the Doctor said. "See? You can only hold the human race down for so long before they've had enough and rise up. I've seen it over and over, time and again, during my travels. Tyrants may get a stranglehold on the humans for awhile but eventually they always manage to rise up and defeat their oppressors. While you were concerned about Rose and me, my friends down in our headquarters was spreading the word and rallying others to fight. Must have managed to get some information out to other people in other countries or perhaps the humans just reached their breaking point and said no more to you and your lot. Either way, the rebellion is on and I have a feeling you will be going home, that is, if you're lucky to escape with your lives.

"Precisely why your friends will be executed live and why you will be made into a mind slave afterwards. It will send a message to the other humans that they will die if they resist."

"Somehow I don't think they care anymore," the Doctor said. "I don't think it'll matter if you kill us. In fact, I think we'll just become martyrs and things will become worse for you. Buuuut, that's just my wee humble opinion. You don't know humans as well as you think you do, mate."

Suissstra hissed at him while the Doctor gave him a look of innocence. He heard Jack's voice and turned his head to see guards bringing him in along with Ben, Billy and Rose. Rose was semi-conscious and he could see pain on her face while four of the guards carried her in, their scaly hands on her back, pressing down on her wounds. To the Doctor's horror, they dropped her from three feet up like a sack of potatoes and Rose cried out in pain while the Doctor and the others tried to fight their captors to get at Suissstra who was laughing at Rose's distress. The Doctor was backhanded again and he stopped struggling when Rose cried out in anguish at that. He helped her sit up and sat near her, protecting her while the guards kept their guns trained on them. She was completely naked which enraged the Doctor since he know Suissstra was doing it to humiliate her but he was thankful that at least the open air was helping to heal her wounds.

"Doctor, why did you do this?" Rose said softly when he looked at her. "You're captured now. You can't help us or anyone else."

"Oh, I wouldn't count your lizards before they hatched, Rose," he whispered to her. "I always have a trick or two up me sleeve."

Meanwhile, Simone was making her way down a corridor. Even though she was a teenager, she was short for her age so she was able to keep to the shadows when she needed to. She heard the Doctor yelling earlier before being silence and because of that, she was able to get a general fix on his location. Earlier when the Doctor explained to her about the screwdriver, he had given her some instructions.

"If I'm right, there should be several control panels scattered throughout the sort of ship the Kajorans use that control the lights, temperature, air conditioning and heat. They usually look like a rectangular black box that they mount on the wall in the corridor. I want you to try to find these boxes and aim the screwdriver at them. I'm hoping if you turn it on, it'll short out the lights at the very least. In the meantime, I have night vision goggles and I'm going to give you a pair as well. The ones I have are very small and narrow and can fit in your pocket but they're very powerful and you'll be able to see in the dark. Now some lizards can see in the dark as well, but not total darkness which is what I hope will happen. At least in certain sectors. If the lights grow dark where we are and I'm near Rose and the others, I'll give them night vision goggles and I'll take them back to the TARDIS. I do need to try to sabotage the ship in some way though so it can't function or take control of the weapons systems from the TARDIS and use them to make the mothership fire on the other ships and Kajoran ships and personnel on the Earth. I want to teach these lizards a lesson they'll never forget."

So at the moment Simone was trying to find one of these black boxes the Doctor described. So far, she couldn't see any Kajorans in the hallways and she thought perhaps they were helping to guard the Doctor and the others and keep them from escaping.

Then she rounded a corner and saw one of the boxes the Doctor had described. She pulled the sonic screwdriver out, looked around and when she saw the coast was clear she ran towards it, praying that it would shut off the lights wherever the Doctor was currently at.

"So…" Suissstra said, looking at his prisoners. "Which one of you wants to go first? You might as well volunteer to suffer and die now since you'll have to wait and watch the others first if you decide to go last."

Rose was about to volunteer when Jack held up his hand.

"I'll go," he said.

"No, Jack," Rose said weakly.

"Yes, Rose, I want to go first," Jack said emphatically.

"How very brave, human. You haven't put up as much of a fight as these two," Suissstra said, pointing to the Doctor and Rose, "so I'll give you a quick, relatively painless death."

"No, you can't," Rose said. "They're just travelers, they're not even from this universe, let me…"

"No, Rose," the Doctor said, putting his arms around her from behind.

Rose looked at him and saw the usual familiar "Trust me." look in his eyes. Rose suddenly suspected both the Doctor and Jack knew something she didn't and they had a plan in mind. Reluctantly, she nodded and the Doctor rubbed her right arm affectionately while the Kajorans made Jack stand up and walk over to the console.

"This is going to be broadcast live over all the Earth," Suissstra said as he pushed a button and a panel on the console slid back to reveal a camera. "Your death shall be witnessed by millions so feel privileged, human. What is that Earth saying, you'll have your fifteen minutes of fame?" he said while the guards snickered.

Rose couldn't bear to watch while they stripped Jack's clothes off him and readied him. The Doctor watched while she turned her head and he leaned over to her cheek with the pretense of giving her comforting kiss. He began to gently kiss the tears that were silently falling from her eyes and then while he was doing that, he worked his kisses back to her ear.

"These beasts won't show you mercy but I will," he whispered in between kisses. "If there's no hope of escape, I will take your life before they can. I will make it quick, snap your neck. You'll feel next to no pain and you won't suffer. I won't allow you to die on camera and become a symbol of their victory, my brave Rose."

Rose's hand went up to his cheek and she pressed her wet cheek against his while she murmured her thanks to him. The Doctor smiled and kissed her cheek and whispered his love for her in her ear before he took his head away. Rose blinked away the tears while the Doctor took her hand and squeezed it.

"Your suffering will end, Rose, one way or another," he whispered to her and he squeezed her hand again when the tears started up again.

Then suddenly, to everyone's shock, the lights suddenly went out and all the systems shut off. The Doctor let out a soft laugh as he reached into his trouser pocket.

"See, my angel, miracles do happen," he said as he put on his goggles and handed a pair to her, Billy and Ben.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty Five

Suddenly, all was chaos while the Doctor, Rose, Ben and Billy slipped on their night vision goggles and made their way out of the control room. In the greenish glow of the goggles, they saw Suissstra running around, shouting orders while the guards and the co-pilot tried to find the captives. The Doctor dodged them and made his way over to Jack, handing him a pair of goggles.

"We need to take control in the confusion," the Doctor whispered to him.

Jack nodded.

"I'll run around and hit the lizards while you work the controls," he whispered back.

The Doctor nodded. He went up to the control panel and began to suss out how to work the controls while Jack started running around, punching and tagging lizard guards and creating confusion.

While the Doctor worked the controls, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eyes and saw Rose come up beside him.

"Need any help?" he said softly.

"If you're up to it," the Doctor replied.

She nodded and the Doctor drew near, telling her which button to push while Jack, Ben and Billy ran around, confusing the lizards and preventing them from getting near the console. The Doctor and Rose managed to get the ship to move and the Doctor started turning it towards the smaller Kajoran ship off their right side. The Kajorans could sense the ship moving and guessed what was happening but Ben, Billy and Jack kept them away from the console, much to the lizard's frustration. The Doctor positioned the ship so they could see the other ship and then he stopped. He moved around Rose while she watched him push more buttons. Then he kept his finger on a black button while he looked at her.

"I warned them," he said to her before he pressed the button.

A photon missile blaster out of the ships hull and struck the smaller ship. The Kajorans froze when they looked out and saw their sister ship had taken a direct hit.

"Stop them, you fools!" Suissstra yelled in the dark. "They're going to destroy us."

"Yeah, that's the idea, Scaly."

Suissstra turned at the sound of Jack's voice and grunted when Jack punched him. He pulled out his blaster but Suissstra couldn't see anyone in the dark. He cursed and then he heard another explosion and turned to see more blast damage after another missile hit the other ship.

"You'll all die!" Suissstra roared as he began firing blindly at the console.

The co-pilot shouted a warning but it was too late. Suissstra, blinded by rage, began firing randomly on the console while the Doctor grabbed Rose and got her away from the laser bolts.

"No! You'll disable our ship, fool!" the co-pilot screamed

When he heard his subordinate calling him fool, he turned and fired in the direction of his voice. He heard a grunt and something hitting the floor.

"Well, you didn't get who you were aiming for, but you did take out one of the guards. Bravo," Jack taunted in the darkness.

"They have night vision!" Suissstra yelled.

"Very good, glad you were able to figure that out!" the Doctor said.

Suissstra spun around towards the sound of his voice. He could see a little better since the console was on fire but to his frustration, the fire extinguisher sprays above the console kicked on and sprayed out the fire, plunging them back into darkness again.

"Boy, bet you wish you didn't have those safety protocols now, eh?" Jack said in the darkness.

The Doctor went back to work at the console, trying to see if he could still fire missiles. To his delight, the other ship, now badly damaged, was going away from the Earth and heading for deep space. Meanwhile, Rose scanned the room and saw Simone entering, night vision goggles on. She moved towards her, taking care to avoid the Kajorans who were now trying to listen for any movement or the slightest sound. Rose hurried to Simone's side.

"I cut the lights," she whispered.

"I know. Thank you, you've been a great help to us."

Simone could see some of the whip marks on her naked body. Rose nodded where she was looking and sighed softly.

"I'll be alright,I've had worse," she whispered to her.

"The Doctor was furious," Simone whispered back.

"I bet," Rose whispered.

They fell silent when two of the guards neared their spot. Rose took Simone's hand and they slowly moved around them. Simone showed Rose the screwdriver and Rose nodded, leading her over to the Doctor.

"Much obliged," the Doctor whispered, taking his screwdriver from her.

He made them step back and used his screwdriver on the control panel. Rose and Simone stepped back even more when the panel sparked and burst into flame. The Kajorans froze when they finally saw the Doctor silhouetted in the flame. However, they didn't do anything because they were shocked that the Doctor was indiscriminately destroying their ship.

"Stop, you fool, you'll kill us all!" Suissstra said, running to him.

"No," the Doctor said, spinning around. "We won't die, but you will! We have a way to escape but I've disabled your escape pods and I'll keep on destroying your ships. Next I'll do away with the life support systems. Let's see how long you lot can hold your breath, hm?"

"Please, don't do this," Suissstra said.

"Why should I spare you? You haven't spared any human you've come across. Seems that you finally realized I was serious when I said don't mess with me, eh? Now you realize that I really am a threat to you? Tough! I'm past the point of mercy for you and your friends. You nearly destroyed the planet I'm sworn to protect and in return, I'm going to destroy you and your army and then I'll go to your planet and leave it in ruins while I carry away the survivors into captivity and you…you'll spend your days as a mind slave, doing my bidding!"

"No, you can't do this."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN OR CAN'T DO!"

The Doctor's voice shocked everyone. There was so much power and authority in his bellow that the Kajorans found themselves shaking in fear. The Doctor's eyes were dark and emotionless as the console behind him continued to smoke and the fire continued to spread.

"As you can see, I disabled the fire extinguishers which means if you don't put this fire out voluntarily, It'll spread. And eventually affect the life support and then you won't have to worry about the fire any longer. However, if you do what I told you to do and leave this planet and it's people in peace, I will do the same for you. Leave them in peace and I leave you in peace. And if you EVER come back here, I will destroy you and your mates without the slightest bit of mercy. I am the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm and I will become your worst nightmare if you don't do everything I say. IS THAT CLEAR?"

Before Suissstra could answer, he was across the room and had him by the collar of his shirt. The guards and co-pilot started to come to his aid but they backed off when the Doctor gave them a murderous look. He looked at Suissstra and the reptile swallowed hard when he saw cold, pitiless eyes staring back at him.

"You are my prisoner and you will send a message to your troops across the world telling them to leave the planet immediately and to free all the humans they have, mind slaves, workers and those in cryostasis. If you don't do it, I will make what you did to Rose look like child's play."

He looked around at the stunned Kajorans.

"You are all my prisoners! If you resist, I will show you no mercy!"

"Why you…"

The co-pilot tried to attack him but the Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the life support systems panel. The Kajorans were horrified when he destroyed it and a warning buzzer went off, warning them the oxygen was failing. The Doctor gave him a cold, dispassionate look as the co-pilot stood frozen in shock.

"Like I said, you are all my prisoners and if you want to live, you will come with us to my ship and you will give yourselves up or you can stay here and suffocate to death. Makes no difference to me but one way or another, this ENDS HERE!"

He ignored the stunned looks on the lizard's faces.

"Captain," he said to Jack. "Round up the prisoners."

He grabbed Suissstra's blaster and threw it to him. Jack waved it around while he barked at the lizards in the room to fall in line. While they were doing that, the Doctor looked at Suissstra who was staring at him in stunned silence.

"Who are you?" he finally asked the Doctor.

The Doctor smirked at him.

"I am the protector of Earth and you, like many before you, are learning what happens when you invade my territory."


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty Six

_It has been a week since Commander Suissstra of the Kajorans surrendered. _

_Directly after his surrender to us, the Doctor forced him to gather up everyone on the mothership and they were marched into the TARDIS. The TARDIS put up a forcefield around the console and basically made a sort of force field corridor to the back door. Then she moved the cell block to the back door and sealed off the corridor beyond the cells so the lizards had nowhere to go except inside the cells. Oh, they cursed at us and swore to get even, but no one dared to oppose the Doctor. Once the grunts were inside the cells, the TARDIS sealed them up and the Doctor marched Suissstra up to his console, sat him down and while Jack held a blaster on him, he made the lizard send a message to all his troops, both on Earth and in the sky, ordering them to surrender and leave Earth alone. This past week has seen the Kajorans leaving the Earth while at the same time releasing the humans they were enslaving and keeping in storage. There's been much celebrating but I don't feel like joining in at the moment as I'm still trying to find word of mum or Tony and Simone and Gabrielle are trying to locate their families. Out of all the humans we rescued, they are the only ones who stayed since Ben and Billy were able to find their families and go home with them. Others are not so lucky. A lot of people have put messages out over the telly and radio telling everyone that they're alive and where they are if they have family out there and there are posters and flyers everywhere of missing family members. _

_Mind you, It's not just us. All over the world, the resistance is rounding up lizards and making sure they leave. And after Suissstra told them about the Doctor, they're doing just that. Suissstra and the men that were on his ship are still the Doctor's prisoners. He'll release them last unless something happens. He's using them for insurance to make sure that the others obey and every so often he makes Suissstra record another message to make sure the lizards still know they need to get the hell off Earth. _

_All that's left is for me to decide if I want to go back with the Doctor and Jack. At the moment, I'm wanting to go because it looks like mum and Tony are gone and there's nothing here for me now. The Doctor's leaving it up to me and he's been silent about it. No pressure on me and I appreciate that but I know he and Jack will be heartbroken if I decide to stay. As for Simone and Gabrielle, they're going to make sure that they're put somewhere safe before they leave. _

_What an emotional roller coaster it's been the past eleven years. Hard to believe it's finally over, but it is. And for that, I'm thankful._

Rose walked out of her room at resistance headquarters. She had been helping to bring the occupation to an end along with everyone else and she was exhausted. She had tried to use coffee and tea to keep awake but now the lack of sleep was catching up with her. She yawned and rubbed her left eye while she headed for the meeting room.

"Rose?"

She turned to see the Doctor coming up behind her, a concerned look on his face.

"Why don't you have a nap and let me take over for a bit? You look knackered and it's not good for you to deprive yourself of sleep."

"I went without sleep when I was in the mines," she said.

"Yes, but…this isn't the mines. All that is over and done with and you need to rest," the Doctor said gently. "The evacuation can continue without the great Rose Tyler heading it up.'

Rose laughed at that and the Doctor smiled. She headed back towards her room.

"No, not on a camp bed," he said. "In the TARDIS, on a proper bed. You deserve it after eleven years of torture."

"Too right I do," Rose said.

The Doctor smiled and put his arm around her back while he led her towards the TARDIS. Once inside, she lay down in her old room and the Doctor pulled the covers up over her. He gently kissed her forehead.

"I'm so proud of you," he said to her. "You deserve a nice, long rest so off to Slumberbye Land with you! Allons-y!"

He turned to leave when Rose called to him. He turned, a questioning look on his face.

"Doctor. I know you haven't bothered me about whether or not I'm gonna leave with you."

"Don't worry about that just now. Just get some sleep."

"No. I've decided. I want to come with you and Jack. There's nothing for me here now. Even if we do find mum and Tony, there's still nothing here for me."

The Doctor smiled and nodded. He walked over and gave her a hug.

"Jack and I will protect you, promise," he said to her.

"I was thinking…if Simone and Gabrielle can't find their families. Maybe we can take them as well. I'll look after them," Rose said.

The Doctor nodded and kissed her cheek.

"For the moment though, look after yourself, Ms. Tyler," he said to her.

"Yes, sir!" Rose said with a salute.

The Doctor chuckled warmly, gave her one more kiss on the cheek and walked over to the door. He winked at her, turned off the light and closed the door while Rose sighed and turned on her side so she could go to sleep.

Four hours later, Rose woke up. She sat up on the side of the bed and got her bearings. She felt more refreshed than she had in years, all the stress and trauma of the last eleven years now fading now that she and the rest of Earth were finally free. She got up, felt her way to the door in the dark and opened it. She walked out and down the corridor to the console room, smiling when she heard Jack and the Doctor laughing and talking softly. She entered and saw the two of them standing in front of the console while Simone and Gabrielle sat on the jump seat. The Doctor saw her and beckoned to her to come to him.

"Been wondering when you might get up," he said to her. "Bit of good news. We told Simone and Gabrielle that you wanted to look after them and they're all for it."

"I don't think my family is alive," Simone said.

"And mine's dead, I know it," Gabrielle said. "Will you take care of us then, Rose?"

Tears came to Rose's eyes and she hugged them while the Doctor and Jack shared a glance. The Doctor pointed to the front door and Jack nodded.

"Rose, stay here a moment, be right back," he said.

Rose nodded and Simone and Gabrielle made room for her on the jump seat.

"So, who here thinks I'm God's gift to the universe? Raise your hands!" Jack said, winking when they laughed at that.

Jack hugged Rose tightly and told her how happy he was that she was going back with them. Rose hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"Ooo, she kissed me! I got bragging rights!" Jack teased while Rose took his hand and squeezed it.

She looked over when the Doctor opened the front door.

"Oh, Roooooos-ah!" he said.

"Yeeeeees?" Rose said.

The Doctor opened the door wider and Rose let out a cry of joy when Jackie and Tony came inside. She sprinted towards them and Jackie caught her in a hug while Rose broke down and wept. The Doctor smiled and closed the door while Jackie held her daughter and Tony hugged her legs. Simone and Gabrielle came close to them and the Doctor stood with them, watching the joyful reunion.

"We were in some sort of freezer along with a lot of other people," Jackie said when Rose calmed down enough to listen. "We were just released and we saw the Doctor's message that you were looking for us. We contacted the people here and they went and gave us a lift here. I'm sorry, love, Pete, Jake and Mickey…"

"I know. I know they're dead," Rose said with a nod. "I was just holding out hope that you and Tony were alive."

She explained about wanting to return to the other universe and asked if she and Tony could come with her. She introduced Simone and Gabrielle to them and Jackie greeted them warmly.

"You lost your families?" Jackie said. "You can come with me then. I'll look after you. Tony and I can give you a home."

"Then that means you'll come with me?" Rose asked.

Jackie thought for a moment and shook her head.

"There's nothing for me here either, love. Pete was wonderful but he was a bit of a workaholic and I don't think he ever accepted me fully as his wife. If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at the mansion and see what it looks like now. Perhaps bring along some things, definitely some of Tony's toys but also some money so we can start over."

"Mum, I doubt the banks have any money in them now."

"Not the banks, love, the safe your stepfather had in his study. He kept money in that for emergencies. And this seems like the perfect time to use that money, yeah?"

"Yeah," Rose said before Jackie gave her another hug.

(Sixteen days later…)

_The Doctor has finally found a gap in time and space that will allow us to go back over the void safely. It's not very big so even though the work isn't finished, we need to go now or risk being stuck here. Mum was able to salvage some furniture and toys for Tony and Gabrielle and we found a great deal of money in the safe that they can use when they get back to London. She's gonna try to get her old flat back and the Doctor's gonna try to land as close as he can to the day after the Canary Wharf battle so there'll be a good chance the flat will still be there and still have our furniture in it. We spent a great deal of time saying goodbye to Tom and Toby and the others who have stayed behind to help people and help rebuild the city. All over the world, there is a rebuilding and people are finally getting back to their lives. All that's left to do is release our prisoners. However, the Doctor has decided that it's too risky releasing Suissstra since he was the head of the invasion so he's going to take him to a prison planet after letting the others go. We're hoping that once we leave the Earth will be alright but we're all leaving that up to fate since the Doctor figures we'll never be able to return here once the gap closes. Not that I want to return, mind. My life is with the man I love and my friends and family are in the other universe. I even asked the Doctor if he wouldn't mind taking me to see Sarah Jane once we get back. Even though I didn't know her for very long, she's one of the people I missed the most and I want to make sure she's alright. That and I just want to ask her advice after all that's happened to me. I need some advice from someone like me who's traveled with the Doctor and bore the scars of fighting at his side. _

_Jack is going back to Cardiff but he promises to keep in touch. He has a team there and we're going to meet them briefly when we drop them off. He was another one I missed terribly but at least he's alive and he'll call me every once in awhile and make sure we're okay. _

_So…that's it, really. Nothing more to say. Eleven years of Hell are finally over for me and I'm finally home, truly home, with the man I love more than anything else in the universe. Both he and I will be growing our hair back. In fact, we're going to be wearing wigs because even though the Doctor is turning his nose up at a wig, he's not about to be seen going through time and space bald as a baby's bum (his words.) And so ends another part of my life, a painful and terrible part of my life but now begins a whole new chapter, a new day is dawning, one filled with hope and promise and for the first time in ages, I'm actually looking forward to waking up and beginning a brand new day, having adventures and once more, having a life that is truly worth living._

_THE END. _


End file.
